When Worlds Collide
by Mistress of Destruction
Summary: Sequel to 'The Little Things Give You Away'. Vergil and Lady are sent to Las Vegas to investigate an odd string of murders. Can they work together or will the hunters become the hunted.
1. Don't Fear The Reaper

Disclaimer: As I've said before... I don't own the boys or anything related to Devil May Cry.

Author's Note: Well the time has finally come for my long anticipated sequel to 'The Little Things Give It Away'. I do apologize for the long wait but I've had serious writers block after living through an accident earlier this year that kinda turned my life upside down. Enough of my sad story though, as I'm sure you are all eager to get to the story, but first I must give my thanks to ShyAnon for helping me with a few lines and finally allowing me to get this chapter out to you. I must warn you though, updates will be irregular as I'm still suffer from that block. But anyway, enjoy and please review!

**When Worlds Collide**

Chapter 1: Don't Fear The Reaper

"Is there anything else I can get for you, sir?"

Lady looked up the task of cleaning her guns to watch the brunette flight attendant set a cup of foaming espresso down on the table. The attendant leaned over the table more than was necessary, displaying her ample bosom and keeping her brown eyes focused exclusively on the platinum haired devil hunter sitting across from Lady.

Frowning in absolute disgust as the brunette still tried to gain the attention of the half-devil; Lady turned her attention to the man himself.

"That will be all." Vergil stated coldly, reaching for the frothy cup of coffee, his icy blue eyes never leaving the book in his other hand.

The attendant turned away with a disappointed look on her face, returning to whatever tasks she was supposed to do during flight.

Sighing in exasperation, Lady returned to her gun, knowing full well that the other woman would be back before long. Only an hour in the air and the woman had already attended them nearly a dozen times. Lady was beginning to wonder why the stuck up, blue-coated son of Sparda hadn't told the woman off yet.

Maybe he was enjoying being waited on hand and foot? Or maybe Dante had told him something, Lady mused remembering her own instructions from the younger twin.

_----------------------_

"_I've got a job for you in Las Vegas. I'm sending you cause you're the best at gambling and after… well… you know." _Dante pulled a hand through his mop of white hair. _"We kinda need to replenish our bank account. I told them that you would decide the fee, with a starting rate of one hundred thousand."_

Lady nodded, knowing well the reason for their lack of funds. Having found numerous demons posing as children, Dante had set about seeing to their elimination. Unfortunately for him, it had been an elaborate trap set by the demons to use the human world and its laws against the devil hunter. After a possessed human had alerted the police, Dante had been arrested and subsequently needed to be bailed out of jail. Fortunately, she and Trish had found the demonic children and sent them back to Hell, while Lucia had exorcized the last, firmly disposing of all witnesses. Thankfully, all charges against Dante were dropped, but that hadn't stopped the FBI from keeping a close eye on his activities. Thus when the rich casino and hotel owner from Las Vegas had called, it might as well have been a godsend.

"_So how much do you want me to pull in?"_ Lady questioned, knowing if she won too much than the IRS would be breathing down their necks too.

"_Double, triple… whatever. Just don't 'lose' any of our pay!" _Dante answered, watching her with his piercing blue eyes as if he was yet debating internally if he should tell her more.

"_Hah!"_ Lady snorted and laughed at him. _"That's something only you do!"_

Dante frowned and glared at her in mock anger. _"Yeah, yeah. No need to rub it in."_

"_So when am I leaving?" _Lady asked, getting back to business.

"_They will be sending their company jet for the 'both' of you," _Dante emphasized sternly, causing Lady to lift a dark eyebrow in surprise, _"in the morning."_

"_Lucia's coming too, or have you decided Trish needs a vacation?"_ Lady asked humorously, watching as Dante suddenly busied himself with something on his desk. Lady's stomach immediately clenched in anticipated dread of the next words she was sure to hear leaving his mouth.

"_Neither." _murmured Dante, digging through one of the drawers on his desk. _"I'm sending Vergil with you." _He rapidly mumbled out, leaving Lady to wonder what he had actually said.

After a few moments of Lady's brain working out the mumbled, jumble of words Dante had spat out, she frowned. Did Dante want to punish her or something? Since Vergil had actively begun taking a role in the business of Devil May Cry, he had strictly worked with Dante. The times that she did happen to interact with the elder son of Sparda, he was curt and unappreciative of anything she did. Sometimes he was even down right insulting, which would then generally end up in a furious sparing match that at times would become so deadly and intense that it took one of the other members of Devil May Cry to intervene and separate the two before they could seriously injure each other. So having to go on a trip 'alone' with him was simply repulsive.

"_You can't be serious?" _Lady nearly gapped at Dante, in complete disbelief.

"_Dead."_ Dante spoke, glancing up from his search of the drawers.

"_Why? I can handle myself? Don't you dare start…"_

"_Whoa! Hold on there!" _Dante cried foregoing his searching to lift both hands in emphasis. _"I know you're very capable of taking care of yourself…" _he soothed, lowering his hands to his desk once more. _"But 'we' decided it would be good if the both of you went and then maybe you could resolve your differences."_

Now Lady did really let her mouth hang open; he really was serious! The 'we' portion of Dante's explanation, already had Lady's mind deducing the true reason's for why she and Vergil were being thrust together on the trip. Ever since Lady had told Lucia and Trish what had transpired between her and Vergil in Temen-ni-gru, the two women had gotten it into their heads that she was in love with the eldest twin. They even went so far as to inform her on a fairly regular basis that the reason for her and Vergil's spats came from repressed emotions of love that they both were too stubborn to admit.

"_At the very least," _Dante continued, a slight devious smile lighting his features. _"You could use Verge's extra muscle and make him dig up any graves."_

Forgetting her previous thoughts, Lady could only return Dante's smirk. _"Mr. Priss-Pot dig up a grave? That'll be the day!" _Although the idea of watching Vergil digging through the dirt to reach the decaying corpse of some nasty ghost was a rather entertaining idea.

Dante's smirk widened, _"You forget, Mr. Priss-Pot also prides himself on being a 'gentleman'. There's no way he'd let you do it." _Dante out right grinned now, looking slightly devilish at the thoughts of what Vergil would do.

Lady chuckled, _"Alright, you've got a point."_

"_See, it's not so bad after all!" _Dante laughed and pulled a few papers from his desk, handing them to her. _"Just don't piss him off, alright?"_

_--------------------------_

But what about Vergil pissing her off? It wasn't like she was going to allow him to walk all over her just to refrain from pissing him off. That was just simply not going to happen in this lifetime or the next!

Checking the barrel of the gun critically, while still deep within her own thoughts, Lady nearly jumped at the sound of a voice speaking.

"Is there anything you need, sir?"

Lady glared up at the brunette flight attendant, about ready to point the disassembled weapon in her hands at the other woman. Not only had the brunette further pulled down her top, but now she had also hitched up her skirt all in an attempt to seduce her platinum haired passenger.

Opening her mouth to tell the flight attendant to get lost, since Vergil obviously wasn't going to deal with it, Lady was forced to snap her mouth shut and coolly return her gaze to the gun in her hands as Vergil finally lifted his face from the book.

Glaring at the woman in a look of shear annoyed displeasure; Vergil glanced over the brunette, his eyes moving slowly over the woman's entire figure.

Lady could almost feel the temperature drop in his direction, even as the woman warmed, mistaking Vergil's seemingly lazy gaze for something other than what it was.

"In fact there is something." Vergil began smoothly, his voice dripping with honeyed sweetness.

Grinning inwardly in anticipation, Lady controlled her glee and kept her face carefully emotionless, feigning complete indifference to the scene unfolding before her.

Leaning closer in anticipation of Vergil's next words, the flight attendant paid little heed to Lady.

"You can take your horrendously large and obviously manufactured breasts out of my sight. And while you are at it, you may as well pull your skirt back down over those terribly thin legs. Truth be told, I have no need to so egregiously lower myself in bedding someone so perceptibly needy and significantly lacking in any real sense of intelligence or dignity."

The brunette backed off slightly in shock not quite believing what she had heard even as tears began to well in her brown eyes.

Relentless, Vergil continued. "Though if you believe such activities are entirely necessary, than I am sure the co-pilot would be more than happy to indulge your wishes, since he has been out here an unnecessary amount of times." Vergil finished in a frigid tone of finality.

The attendant backed off further, looking much like a deer caught in headlights, and was just about to bolt when Vergil held up his empty coffee cup without even bothering to look at her. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Tears streaming down her cheeks in rivers, the brunette quickly grabbed the mug from Vergil's hand and promptly fled.

Snapping her gun back together, Lady chuckled in relief. "It's about time you told her off." she stated, lifting her eyes from her gun to meet Vergil's, gaining a slight perplexed look from him that was even more satisfying then having him finally tell the stewardess off. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to put up with her the whole flight."

Sharp blue eyes narrowed as Vergil placed his book down on the table between them and sneered, "And what pray happened to 'women' sticking together?"

Lady shrugged indifferently, setting her gun down as well. "I don't support sluts that like taking shit from men." she explained.

Frowning, Vergil continued glaring at her. "Then what does that make Nevan?"

Grimacing in guilt, Lady easily remembered the incident that he was referring to. A simple sparing session had once again turned into a full out battle when Vergil had insulted her yet again. Not one to ever back down, Lady had decided to get the upper hand on the stuck up half-devil and enlisted the help of Nevan. Unfortunately for Vergil, he had decided to disarm her first, consequently leaving his back exposed to the red-haired vampiress, who has much faster than he had anticipated.

Lady had never thought to see such fear in the frigid eyes of the eldest twin, and hoped never to again, when Nevan had sunk her teeth into his neck. Thinking quickly, Lady had retrieved her weapon and shot the sorceress in the head, successfully detaching Nevan from Vergil. Unfortunately, in his own efforts to escape the red-haired demonic witch, Vergil had nearly torn his neck asunder.

Swallowing her guilt, Lady firmly told herself that it really had been his own fault, if he wouldn't have been such an ass in the first place, it would have never happened. Thus, Lady responded to Vergil's question in a matter-of-fact tone. "Nevan is a slut that 'doesn't' take shit from men."

Snorting, Vergil returned to his book and content to leave it at that, Lady set about returning her cleaning supplies to their pre-ordained positions in her kit.

Taking out a fresh clip of ammunition, she placed it absently on the table beside the gun, ready for when she would be finished putting the rest of her tools away. Just as she put the last cloth away, a sharp lurch of the plane sent her gun and ammo clip skidding across the table. Looking up in surprise, Lady found Vergil holding her gun in one hand.

Closing his book with a sharp snap and setting it down on the table, Vergil spoke in frosty tones. "You should keep better track of your weapons. You never know whose hands they might fall into."

Narrowing her eyes at Vergil's soft threat, Lady watched as he reached his free hand down to his lap, retrieving the ammo clip only to load it into the gun with as much ease as Dante might have.

Another sharp jolt of the plane sent Vergil's book sliding across the table to be caught easily by Lady, just before the Captain's disembodied voice came over the speakers. "We are experiencing some turbulence. If everyone could put on their seat belts, we'll be through it in a few moments."

Clipping her seat belt on with one hand, Lady held Vergil's book up with the other. "Now who should be paying more attention to their things?" she asked in slight mockery of his previous threat.

"A trade?' she offered, when his thin lips pursed together in a deep frown.

Saying nothing, Vergil reached one arm over the table, her gun dangling from one finger.

Taking the gun and passing over the book, Lady caught the title of the book, 'Demonic Curses and Their Origins' stencilled out on the old leather cover in flowing script. Curious and not recognizing it as one of the many books located in Dante's large reprotour of reference material, Lady asked, "I didn't know we had a book like that?"

"This," Vergil murmured, taking the book back from her hand, "is not from my brother's impressively vast library. It is one of my own."

"Oh," Lady answered and when he didn't seem to offer up any more information, she sighed in disappointment and returned her gun to its proper case. Then recalling clearly how many boxes of presumable junk she had had to carry out of what had apparently been Vergil's former apartment, she looked back to Vergil, meeting his cool gaze steadily. "Weren't all of your assets turned over into Dante's possession after a year of your presumed death?"

"Not all of it. I never truly believed I would die and left many more items in safe keeping. In the event that I did not return for them within twenty years… then they too would have been passed into Dante's hands." Vergil answered truthfully, his gaze remaining locked with hers.

"So what is interesting you about curses then? Was it something Lucia was having problems with?" Lady asked. Though she didn't know much about the dark spells, curses and wards that Lucia often dealt with, she did find them rather interesting.

Instead of answering though, Vergil broke eye contact and opening his book began paging through it.

Sighing in frustration, Lady looked around for something else to do, now that she was done with her guns and Vergil obviously had no intention of continuing their conversation. She was completely surprised however, when the open book was passed back toward her.

Lady's bi-coloured eyes immediately sighted on a miniature representation of a painting that ordained a space on her wall back in her room at Devil May Cry.

Frowning, Lady looked up at Vergil in confusion. "What…" she started, unsure of where to go after that. Why was he researching something that belonged to her any way?

"Your painting seemed familiar since the first time that I saw it." Vergil started, not waiting for her to formulate her thoughts.

"You could have just asked." Lady growled softly, feeling just a little violated.

"And you would have given me much the same story Lucia did." He returned, glaring at her in contempt.

Lady couldn't help but blink in surprise, he had asked Lucia, but had refrained from even mentioning his interest to her. Was he deliberately trying to avoid her for some reason? Why then did he also have to insult and fight with her the few times that they were together? And why could he be a complete gentleman one moment and an infuriating ass the next? And lastly and certainly not least, why the hell hadn't she shot him yet?

All these questions fluttering through Lady's head simply confused and frustrated her, and as a result it was beginning to give her a headache. When Vergil continued she was only too happy for the distraction.

"I was interested in its origins, not in your acquirement of it."

Intrigued by what he may have found, Lady firmly shoved all her previous annoying thoughts away and asked, "So what did you find?"

Leaning back, Vergil regarded her with frosty eyes as if debating with himself whether or not to answer her question. "A bit." he finally answered and then coming to a decision he leaned forward once more, his eyes twinkling ever so slightly, catching Lady's full and undivided attention. "Would you like to hear their tale?" he asked softly as though afraid that she might reject the offer.

Lady nodded eagerly, enthralled by Vergil's shinning eyes and ever so soft voice.

A small smirk graced Vergil's thin lips and he pointed to the woman in the picture, his finger jabbing down on the page inches from Lady's nose. "The High Priestess Minerva." he spoke, his tone still soft as he withdrew his finger and pulled the book back toward him, closing it and then resting his hand on the cover.

"She's not…" Lady started, still finding herself slightly at a loss for words and remembering that she was a descendant of the High Priestess's order.

"Doubtful." Vergil answered, already deducing where she was going. "Though anything is possible." he shrugged indifferently and then relaxed back into his seat. "The painting is old though, far older than you could imagine. But their story begins long before the painting was created.

Thousands of years ago when Lucifer still ruled Hell, he came across Minerva in his travels of the mortal world. Only a child then, Minerva was beautiful, strong willed and most importantly pure of soul. Lucifer, of course, desired the girl and decided to take her as his bride, but not until she came of age."

Vergil's eyes frosted once more and he frowned looking deeply into the table as if there were something more to the wood. After a few seconds he abruptly lifted his gaze to meet hers again and he spoke thickly, "Now, think what you like of the denizens of Hell, but the molestation of children is not an act that is condoned by the rulers of Hell."

Lady knew well of Dante's hatred for pedophiles and it only seemed natural that Vergil have much of the same feelings toward the perverted act. The deep frown gracing his sharp features telling Lady as much and giving her new insight into the frozen landscape of Vergil's mind. Maybe not everything was so frozen after all.

"Therefore, Lucifer set out to find a way to protect his future bride. In the end he sought to employ the assistance of the angel of death."

"The Grim Reaper." Lady murmured and Vergil nodded his assent.

"The Reaper is the only truly neutral entity in this world and the next. He cares nothing for good or evil, young or old, black or white. All souls who come before him are treated equal. Thus who better to protect Minerva than the man who governed death.

"At first though the Reaper refused Lucifer, concerned that such an act would upset the balance of life as we know it. In the end, he finally accepted, taking in payment a weapon of such power that it could end the lives of even the highest ranking demons and angels. Can you guess which weapon that was?" Vergil's eyes shone with the challenge he issued.

"The scythe." Lady answered without a hitch.

Vergil smirked in approval and then continued. "Thus the Reaper set to guard his young charge's life. Always though he kept to the shadows - ever watchful and ever distant.

"It was on Minerva's seventeenth birthday that the fates seemingly conspired against the Reaper's well thought out plan of distancing himself from his charge.

"On that fateful day Minerva and two other priestesses, along with their mortal guards were attacked by thieves along the road. When the priestesses' guards fell to the swords of the thieves, the Reaper intervened, revealing himself and protecting his charge from harm.

"In the end with all the attackers slain and only one surviving priestess besides Minerva herself, the Reaper turned to Minerva, who knew from the moment that she looked into his eyes, what he was. Though unlike all others whom had come before the Reaper before, she did not fear him."

Lady sat completely enthralled as she listened to the story, her mismatched eyes never leaving Vergil's frosty blue.

Vergil's voice continued to speak in tones that even the best storytellers would envy, keeping his audience and quite nearly himself completely captivated.

"As time wore on, Minerva was able to break through the icy barriers that the Reaper had set around his heart. In turn the Reaper became closer to the girl that he had been set to protect. And as fate would have it, the two fell in love."

"Star crossed lovers, just like Romeo and Juliet." Lady murmured thoughtfully, unable to so much as even tear her gaze away from the blue coated devil.

Vergil nodded in assent of her assessment. "Undoubtedly it is where Shakespeare got the idea from." Then after a moment's pause of watching Lady and revelling in the new sense of power he had achieved over her, regardless of how short lived it may be, he continued, "And just as Romeo and Juliet's love ended in tragedy, so to did the Reaper's and Minerva's.

"On Minerva's eighteenth birthday, the day she fully came of age, Lucifer came to collect his bride. Of course, both lovers refused and took refuge in the temple of the High Priestesses. That was when the first war between the mortal realm and Hell broke out. Armed with his scythe and those powers of death already his, the Reaper cut down any that dared come before him. Unfortunately, the Reaper's own past fears came to pass, as the balance of life and death was upset. With spending all his time protecting his love, the Reaper did not attend to his job and all those souls that should have been taken to the next world by him were left to live on within the dead husks of their bodies.

"Therefore, for the first and quite possibly the last time, Heaven and Hell joined together, demons and angels fighting alongside each other to stop the Reaper and reset the scales of life.

"Finally after three years Minerva was captured and the Reaper was forcibly shone the errors of his way. Damning himself for the havoc and suffering he had caused, the Reaper returned to his job and cursed any and all things that reminded him of his love for Minerva."

"That's so sad." Lady stated sadly.

Giving only a soft snort in response, Vergil removed his hand from the cover of his book and picked it gently up.

Putting an elbow on the table Lady leaned her head into her upraised hand, before thoughtfully continuing her train of thought. "I think it's worse though."

"What is?" Vergil asked absently, tucking his book into an inside pocket of his coat.

"Romeo and Juliet."

His hand still lingering inside his coat, Vergil lifted an elegant eyebrow and cocked his head slightly, his interest in Lady renewed. "How so?"

"Well," Lady mused and paused a moment before meeting Vergil's gaze once more. "Romeo and Juliet both died believing that their lover was dead. In the end though they were together, even if it was only in death. But the Reaper and Minerva were ripped from each other for the rest of eternity. Both knowing that their true love was out there, but always beyond their grasp."

Sitting in contemplative silence, Vergil's eyes seemed to search Lady's ruby and sapphire gaze for a few moments almost daring her to blink before he issued a disgusted snort and turned away. "Love is a foolish notion, contrived by humans long ago in attempts at making themselves feel better about the act of reproduction."

Frowning, Lady opened her mouth to retort, but then decided against it. There was really no sense in arguing with Vergil, it would only start a fight again and she had promised Dante to behave. Instead she switched topics, "So what happened to Minerva anyway? I mean obviously she was taken back to Hell."

Looking back to her once more, Vergil sighed. "She was corrupted and wed to Lucifer. Though she did have her revenge in the end."

"Oh?" Lady asked curiously, happy to know that the Priestess had found a way to prevail even in the depths of Hell.

"Minerva's hatred for Lucifer and great pain from being torn from the Reaper made her a powerful matriarch within Hell as well as a devious and passionate mother to many of the greatest demons. One son in particular she nurtured carefully, schooling her child to hate his father as well as be as cunning and devious as she herself was. This son, under his mother's tutelage, remained obscure and seemingly weak to both his father and any would be opponent. Finally after carefully bidding his time, this son rose up against his father and brutally ousted him from his seat as ruler of Hell. Can you guess whom that son was?" Vergil asked, a slight smirk of challenge twisting his lips.

Rising up to the challenge, Lady thought over her answer carefully, knowing that anything less than the correct answer would merit her as unworthy of Vergil's further attention. Not willing to let the little bit of respect that she had gained in Vergil's eyes slip away so easily, Lady finally answered, "Mundus."

The only sign of his approval was in the slight glimmer in his eyes as well as the slightest lift of his lips as he grinned. "Well done."

Privately feeling very proud of herself, Lady was about to ask another question when the Captain's voice coming over the speaker prevented her from doing so. "We're coming in for a landing. If everyone could return to their seats and buckle up, we'll be on the ground in a few minutes."

Looking around in confusion, her discussion with Vergil forgotten, Lady couldn't believe they had actually been in the air for four hours. Apparently the feeling was mutual as Vergil's gaze shifted to the window with a frown.

Checking her seat belt, Lady found it still attached firmly around her waist. Wondering why the Captain was asking them to return to their seats when they were clearly already in them, Lady's silent question was answered a second later when the door to the lavatory opened revealing the brunette stewardess.

The woman was still buttoning her blouse back up when the co-pilot emerged from the lavatory a moment behind the stewardess.

Lady shook her head in disgust. "Guess she took your advice after all."

Not bothering to even look, Vergil turned his head from the window to regard Lady with a smug smile. "Of course she did. She needed another man to restore the image of herself that I so kindly shattered."

If Lady hadn't already taken a great dislike toward the woman, Vergil's confident and cruel voice would have bothered her. But as it stood Lady could only shake her head again and reply scornfully, "Like I said before, she puts to shame all the work that women of the past have strived for in gaining equal rights. I have no compassion for anyone that willingly takes crap from someone else."

Saying nothing in response, Vergil only sat in smug silence as the small private jet was brought back down to the ground.


	2. Vegas

Disclaimer: I do not own the boys, Lady, or DMC!

Chapter 2: Vegas

Pulling the dark shades out of her carry-on-bag, Lady stepped out of the small private jet into the bright desert sunshine. Looking around the small air strip, Lady's eyes settled on the waiting black limousine just feet away from where the plane had landed.

"I hope you enjoyed your flight." The flight attendant stated politely, from where she stood holding the door open.

Ignoring the irritating woman, Lady started down the short flight of metal stairs to the ground below.

"I hope you enjoyed your flight as well sir." Lady heard the woman repeat with honeyed smoothness.

Pausing, Lady glanced back behind her to see Vergil step up to the plane's exit. Dressed in his typical attire, Lady wondered mildly how he was going to deal with the arid temperatures that she could already feel affecting her fair skin, and she was dressed in shorts.

With his free hand - his other holding easily onto the case that contained Yamato- Vergil reached inside his inner coat pocket and pulled forth a pair of sunglasses. Fitting them neatly over his nose, Vergil paused at the sound of the stewardess's voice. His head moved the barest of inches in the woman's direction to regard her for a moment.

Expecting another scathing comment, the brunette attendant lowered her gaze to study Vergil's knee high tan boots. Both she and Lady were both sent for a loop when Vergil reached within his coat once more to pull a business card from a pocket and not unkindly handed it to the stewardess, his voice even soft and almost kind as he spoke to her. "Should you find your way back to New York, give this number a call. Perhaps something can then be arranged."

Lady fought to not only keep her jaw from dropping, but from climbing the previously descended stairs and telling the woman off as the brunette lifted her face to look at Vergil in astonishment and joy, nearly crying out, "Oh, I will!"

Vergil smiled charmingly at the woman before descending the stairs, his smile quickly turning into a cunning and slightly cruel smirk when the stewardess could no longer see his face.

Seeing the smirk, Lady's eyes narrowed as she tried to deduce his plan. It hit her just as Vergil stopped before her and then turned to face back up to the brunette flight attendant, whom was staring at him with star struck eyes, his smile changing once again. "Oh and ask for Dante."

The woman nodded wordlessly and Vergil looked back down at Lady, who could only shake her head and take the remaining stairs to the ground.

"Dante will live to regret sending me on this foolish trip." Vergil murmured softly, so that only she could hear him.

Lady snorted and glanced back over her shoulder at the more recently rehabilitated son of Sparda. "Regret? Seems like a gift to me."

"Don't be so sure about my brother's taste." Vergil commented sagely. "There is a reason he surrounds himself with such strong women."

Lady could have smiled at that comment, but knowing Vergil all too well and already hearing the intake of breath that would instantly negate his previous complementary comment, Lady stepped from the metal staircase to the hot pavement and turned back to face Vergil. "Stop." she stated, holding her gloved hand up in emphasis.

Vergil frowned, stopping on the stairs and Lady was sure if she could see his eyes past the dark sunglasses that the sun was reflecting off of in just the right way, they would have been glaring at her.

"I don't want to hear it."

"How could you possibly have known what I would have said?" Vergil asked with a slight growl of irritation.

"Hah!" Lady exclaimed, and put her gloved hand on her hip. "We've had more than enough fights over this and I'd really hate to have to make a mess of this little airstrip. So if you really want another battle, then by all means say what you were going to say." Her hand moved from her hip to the weapon's case held in her opposite hand, as she waited for Vergil to make his decision.

"Humph," Vergil grumbled incoherently before joining her on the ground.

"Mr. Vergil Sparda? Miss Mary Arkham?" A young man in a dark blue suit asked, getting out of the limo.

Wincing at the use of her former name, Lady turned toward the young man. "Lady, please." she corrected quickly.

"Sorry." The young man amended nervously. "Ah… welcome to Las Vegas."

"You're from the casino?" Lady questioned, wanting to make sure they were in fact talking to the right person.

"Yes. My name is Danny. My employer sent me to meet you and bring you back to the Alegra." The young man spoke proudly, straightened slightly and held out his hand in greeting.

Lady nodded and shook the offered hand, her eyes drifting to their luggage which was being unloaded from the plane and placed into the trunk of the limo by the driver.

"I have the case file already in the vehicle for you to look over before we reach the Alegra, where my employer will then meet with you." Danny continued speaking formally, but Lady's attention was fully focused on the large weapon's case that the driver was reaching for.

Her fingers twitched as the driver grabbed the heavy case and lugged it toward the car. She had hated stowing Kalina Ann, her prized weapon, away, but in order to keep the normal population of the world from thinking she was a terrorist, such steps were necessary.

With Kalina Ann loaded into the trunk, Lady returned her attention to Danny, finding him looking rather uncomfortable once more.

"Your boss said he'd meet us here." Lady frowned, recalling Danny's last bit of information, she didn't like being stood up.

Danny pulled a hand through this short sandy hair nervously. "There was a problem that required my employer's attention and I was sent in his stead." Danny said, fidgeting once more. Then brightening he added, "But he did say that he was looking forward to meeting with the both of you."

"Hmm…" Lady murmured in dissatisfaction, but allowed the limo driver to take her gun case and carry-on bag from her.

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Danny gestured to the limo. "If we could get in out of the sun, I'll be happy to show you the file."

Lady sighed and made to move to the vehicle, but stopped when the limo driver returned, making to grab the weapons case out of Vergil's hand. The poor man quickly stopped his action when Vergil tightened his grip and gave an inhuman snarl.

A quick step brought Lady to Vergil's side. She could well understand the possessiveness and love one could hold for a weapon. Placing her hand gently on his arm, she felt him stiffen and then look down to her. Lady only caught his barely visible eyes with her own bi-coloured eyes, and stared into them meaningfully, hoping that he would understand.

Seemingly he did, for he pressed his thin lips together and the tension that Lady could feel in his arm relaxed. Keeping her gloved hand on Vergil's leather covered arm, she turned her head to the driver and gave a slight nod to him before once again meeting Vergil's intense gaze.

The driver practically snatched Yamato from Vergil's hand before nearly running a safe distance from Vergil and loading Yamato into the trunk. Lady released Vergil's arm, and simultaneously with Vergil looked to the limo to find Danny eyeing them oddly.

"Uhem…" Danny gestured toward the interior of the limo before disappearing into it.

Sighing, Lady followed his example, leaving Vergil to bring up the rear.

Once they were all seated in the luxurious and spacious limousine, Danny pulled a file folder from out of a small magazine holder situated beside the bench seat where he sat directly behind the driver.

Silently impressed by the interior of the limo, Lady glanced to Vergil to find him sitting with his arms folded across his chest and a completely bored expression on his face.

"Here," Danny stretched across the space between his seat and the rear seat on which both she and Vergil sat.

With Vergil making no move to take the offered file, Lady reached her gloved hand out and took the file from Danny's grasp. Leaning back into the comfortable leather seats, Lady pushed her glasses up on top of her head and crossing one leg over the other and then opened the simple manila tang folder.

Numerous pictures and papers filled the folder. Picking up one of the photographs, Lady examined the graphic photo critically. "These are crime scene photos," she announced in surprise, looking to Danny with wide eyes.

"My employer has a contact within the Las Vegas police department." Danny grinned, much more relaxed now that the limo was moving.

"Well that's handy." Lady murmured, returning her attention to the file in her hands. Thereafter Lady paid little attention to either man as she carefully looked over all the gruesome photos and read over each case report.

"So have either of you been to Las Vegas before?" Danny's voice spoke, only slightly interrupting Lady from her study.

"No." she responded, without even glancing up.

Vergil made no sound and Lady returned her full attention to the file once more, trying to sort the reports and place them with the correct photos. Once more Danny's voice interrupted her thoughts and she was forced to look up in annoyance.

"Well… uh… maybe when you're through with your case… and … uh… before you leave of course," Danny started, running a hand through his short cropped hair nervously, his eyes focused on her crossed legs. "Maybe I could take you out and show you the sights?"

Focusing on the young man across from her, Lady had to admit that he wasn't bad looking and if it wasn't for his lack of confidence then maybe she might consider…

"We are leaving the moment we are through." Vergil stated sternly, before Lady could further formulate her thoughts.

Glancing at her white haired companion in surprise, she found him pointedly glaring at the young man across from them. Wondering about his outburst for half a second, Lady shrugged and returned to her work, not even listening as poor Danny attempted to apologize.

The rest of the trip into the city was taken in silence, much to Lady's immense relief. The extreme bustle of the city's main drag, a few minutes later, diverted Lady's attention from her work once again. Putting the folder on the seat next to her, she moved closer to her window and looked out at the towering hotels and casinos that lined the main drag of Las Vegas. Impressed and just a little in awe of the glittering and flashing lights, beautiful fountains and strategically placed palm trees. It was almost like looking at a mirage and Lady decided then and there that regardless of what Vergil said, she was going to enjoy her stay in this city so long as she was here.

Author's Notes: I apologize deeply for taking so long in getting this second chapter. Though I can't say I'll be much more punctual with the next chapter. As it stands, I seem to have lost my beta reader and if anyone of you reading this think you would like the job, please don't hesitate to contact me! Thank you to all of those who have reviewed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!


	3. The Alegra

Disclaimer: I do not own the boys, Lady, or DMC!

Chapter 3: The Alegra

Vergil stepped out of the limo and looked up at the towering hotel and casino, unimpressed with the glitz and glamour. He gazed about in disdain as numerous humans moved here and there, some coming from the casino, some arriving and still others moving about in hurried movements as they attended to their jobs. There was even one man sitting on the steps that led up to the casino, sobbing uncontrollably he covered his face with his hands.

In the time that it took Lady to get out of the limo, two men dressed all in black - obviously the casino security - came down the steps and after having a short conversation with the sobbing man, they hauled him up to his feet and quickly escorted him off the premises.

"Scary, uh?" Lady murmured softly as she too gazed at the broken man being nearly carried away.

Vergil didn't answer her, only twisted his lips further in displeasure. Dante would most certainly pay for this!

"Hopefully this will be quick." Lady stated her own unhappiness evident in her frown.

"This way." Danny gestured toward the casino entrance. "Someone will look after your luggage."

Sighing softly - he honestly was not fond of the idea of having so many people handling Yamato - he followed Lady and Danny into the casino, unconsciously keeping close to Lady's side as upon entry the number of people seemed to dramatically increase.

Unlike the exterior of the casino the interior was considerably darker, lit mostly by hundreds, if not thousands, of flashing and blinking lights. There were a few shouts of joy scattered throughout the crowd as someone won something, but even those were far and few between. People pressed further together in an attempt to see some of the higher paying games of chance.

Disgusted, Vergil focused entirely on weaving his way through the tightly packed crowd of people, insuring that he never once lost sight of Lady's lithe figure. They were half way across the casino floor, making their way through the slot machines when an older woman jumped off her stool and cried out in happiness as the slot machine began spewing out quarters. "I won! I won!" she danced around merrily, grabbing out and attaching herself to Vergil as he tried to move around the woman as Lady and Danny had just done.

"Madam, if you would kindly extract…" Vergil started coldly, trying to pry the plump woman off his body.

With little regards to his efforts, the woman began trying to force him to dance with her.

Having a mind too firmly and permanently extract the woman from his person, Vergil recalled Dante's last words to him.

_--------------------------------------_

"_Remember to behave yourself! The last thing we need is more headaches from the law enforcement community. That means NO miming, killing or otherwise slaughtering ANY humans. And For God's Sake DON'T PISS LADY OFF!" _

Rolling his eyes in disdain, something that Dante caught all too readily, Vergil was unable to say anything in his own defence as Dante continued.

"_And if you break any of those rules or Lady ends up hurt because of your stubbornness, you might as well stay in Vegas, cause you won't be welcome back here."_

_--------------------------------------_

Normally the threat would have been meaningless to Vergil, but after finally feeling like he belonged somewhere again, he was loath to give it up - a small fact that Dante was obviously all too aware of.

Growling in frustration over his situation, Vergil grabbed a hold of the woman's wrists and giving her a firm shake, tried again to get through to her. "Ma'am!"

At that the woman looked up, fear suddenly filling her eyes as she gazed into the icy depths of Vergil's eyes.

Before either of them could do any more, Danny calmly pulled the now shaken woman away from Vergil.

"Sorry 'bout that." Danny gave Vergil an apologetic smile, not noticing the menacing look still dancing in Vergil's frigid eyes. "It's great that you've won miss!" Danny encouraged the woman, skilfully guiding the woman back to her slot machine. "I'll have someone bring you a bigger cup for all those coins straight away."

Still warily watching the woman with hatred, Vergil nearly jumped at Lady's light touch on his arm.

"You alright?" she asked, her voice in a low whisper.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Vergil responded grouchily. In all his years of dealing with demons and other such creatures, none had ever been able to sneak up on him. Yet Lady always managed to catch him off guard, a fact that was more irritating then being forced to come on a trip that he had not wanted to take. "She is only an elderly over-weight human." he stated with finality.

Lady shook her head, a frown marring her earlier concerned features. "That's not what I meant and you know it!" she hissed, angrily glaring at him.

Returning her glare with one of his own, Vergil folded his arms across his chest and using his superior height to his advantage, towered over Lady. "Then let us get this case over and done with so that we might return home, where I need not be attacked by fat women and neither of us needs spend time in the others company." he stated venomously.

Bristling, Lady spat back with a "Fine by me!" before storming back off in the direction that they had been heading.

Cursing Dante for what seemed like the hundredth time already that day, Vergil followed Lady toward the now insight elevators.

------------------------------------

"_I will not!" _Vergil exclaimed with a growl as he faced his twin.

Dante crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against his desk with one leg crossed over the other in a posture that clearly announced that he wasn't bugging in his decision. Too bad Vergil wasn't about to either.

"_Look, you and Lady have issues that need working out. Neither of you are going to do that with us around." _Dante tried to reason.

"_You really intend for me to kill her don't you?" _Vergil asked, fingering the hilt of Yamato grouchily. In years past he would have already pulled the slender blade from its sheath and reminded Dante that he could not be ordered about.

"_Right," _Dante rolled his eyes in disbelief. _"You wouldn't be able to kill her anymore than I would."_

"_Don't be so sure." _Vergil sneered.

Dante shook his head and pulled a hand through his unruly hair. _"Jeez, talk about denial."_

Raising his eyebrows in astonishment and then furrowing them a second later at Dante's accusation, Vergil responded threateningly, _"Do you honestly believe I do not have the ability to kill a human?"_

"_Oh, no!" _Dante exclaimed, raising his hands defensively. _"I know you don't give a rat's ass about killing humans."_

Relaxing slightly now that Dante obviously was in agreement with him over at least a portion of their argument, Vergil's jaw nearly dropped with Dante's next comment.

"_You just couldn't bring yourself to actually kill Lady, that's all I'm saying."_

Recovering from Dante's assessment and now furious at the implications behind it, Vergil frowned deeply at his younger brother. _"I suggest that you retract your statement, forthwith." _Vergil growled angrily.

"_Or what?" _Dante sneered childishly.

"_Or I will be forced to remind you of who is the eldest." _Vergil snapped irritably, annoyed and furious with Dante's attitude.

Dante laughed outright, _"Come on Verge! It's not like I haven't kicked your ass before! Besides it was 'you' yourself that told me that you cared about her!"_

"_I did no such thing!" _Vergil snarled and crossing his arms across his chest, turned from Dante forcing him to talk to his back.

With his back turned, Vergil missed the expressive eye roll from Dante. _"Don't tell me you were too drunk to remember?"_

"_Exactly, I was under the influence of a great deal of alcohol and thus nothing I said could ever hold any truthful merit." _Vergil stated matter-of-factly, refusing to so much as look at Dante, partially because he knew his twin well enough to almost visualize the dopey grin plastered on Dante's face. So long as Vergil didn't physically see it, he could keep his already seething temper in check.

"_Ah, come on now." _Dante chuckled mockingly. _"I think that was actually the first time you were completely honest!" _

"_And how would you be able to ascertain the difference when you were as intoxicated as I?" _Vergil inquired, risking a glance at his brother to find him looking to the floor, his right hand idly twirling Rebellion.

Dante shrugged nonchalantly, and then hefted Rebellion up to examine it more closely. _"Look," _Dante started, his softer words forcing Vergil to turn towards him once more. _"It'll be just like when we were kids and constantly fighting. Do you remember? Mom would send us to our room until we could learn to get along again."_

Vergil listened absently, his thin lips twisting in outraged remembrance, his fingers once more moving along Yamato's hilt. He could know see the only plausible outcome to this conversation. Well, there certainly was nothing like old times.

"_Just think of Las Vegas being a really big room for you and Lady. And until you two can get along, you're not coming out." _Dante continued, still inspecting Rebellion, without any regard as to what Vergil was doing.

"_Unfortunately for you, I am no longer a child." _Vergil replied stiffly and then with a short mocking chuckle, he added, _"And you most certainly are 'not' my mother!" _

"_Maybe not, but at least I'm using the lessons I learned in the past and putting them to good use." _Dante replied accusingly.

Feigning a hurt look, Vergil flicked his thumb up on the hilt of Yamato, causing the sword to be removed from its sheath by a bare inch. _"Well, I'm hurt Dante. I feel I've learned my life's lessons rather well, and as I recall the only way to get you to shut up is through Force." _Vergil snapped out and drew Yamato from its sheath.

"_Bring it!" _Dante challenged, and drove toward Vergil, already prepared with Rebellion to meet Yamato, only problem was Vergil disappeared into thin air. Instinctively Dante swivelled and was forced to dodge as a number of ghostly swords flew toward him.

Vergil laughed, _"You will need to do much more than that if you wish to win this argument." _Using his abilities to his advantage, Vergil teleported, leaving Dante standing and staring into thin air, again. Appearing behind Dante once more, Vergil was slightly surprised and a bit impressed, when Dante anticipated the move, Rebellion moving to intercept Yamato before it had much time to move.

The blades locked and both brothers placed all their weight into the hold, each trying to exert their will on the other.

"_You are…" _Dante ground out between clenched teeth, his face screwed up in concentration. _"Getting on that plane!"_

"_NO!"_ Vergil snarled, and teleported from view, causing Dante to stumble forward without Vergil's weight to hold him up.

Throwing a set of quick slashes at Dante, Vergil returned to the furious battle with his brother. It had been far too long since they had fought in such a manner, and Vergil found himself oddly enjoying himself for the challenge.

Dante dodged all the slashes and then closing with Vergil, a huge grin on his face, began slashing with Rebellion, each strike meeting Yamato with a clang.

Coming to a lock for the second time, now each twin looking for a possible weak point in the other in which to exploit and end the battle, Dante growled out determinedly, _"I swear, I will drag your ass onto that plane if I have too!"_

Glaring icily at his twin, Vergil countered angrily, _"Just try it!"_

"_No problem!" _Dante returned Vergil's challenge. _"I've kicked your ass before, not to mention there are other ways to skin a cat!"_

A quick jump backward to break the hold with Dante and Vergil growled, _"I wouldn't speak of skinning cats when there are felines present." _Moving to attack Dante again, Vergil was stopped when both he and Dante were struck with force and knocked off their feet.

A crackle and a hiss filled the room as Trish's furious voice spoke, _"Gawd, look at this mess!"_

Using Yamato to pull himself up, Vergil looked to the mirror image of his mother standing just a few feet away. Knowing Trish's affection for felines, Vergil grimaced slightly; he knew that Dante should have never mentioned cats, but the mess? They hadn't made a mess, had they? A quick glance at the floor showed blood splatters covering parts of the polished wood, confirming that there was indeed a mess.

"_Why can neither off you argue without resorting to an all out blood bath? You two are such children!" _Trish shouted._ "And if anyone says Anything about skinning cats again, I will personally cook them for dinner!"_

"_Hey!" _Dante cried indigently as he made it to his feet once more.

"_I resent the implications…" _Vergil was unable to finish as lightning snapped out from Trish's fingers striking both him and Dante, sending them flat onto their backs.

"_I don't care; you're both cleaning this up!" _Trish yelled with finality and turning on heel, stalked into the kitchen.

Sighing in defeat, both twins allowed their bodies to sag fully to the floor in defeat.

Softly padding across the floor, Ravage approached his fallen master, sitting down beside Vergil's head, a mouse clutched between his sharp teeth.

Vergil groaned at the ominous sight, taking it as an unhappy omen.

"_Tell you what," _Dante's voice spoke from beside Vergil, sprawled as he was out on the floor. _"I'll clean up; if you get on the plane without anymore fuss."_

With his eyes on the small mouse held in Ravage's jaws, Vergil petted the black cat fondly and agreed. _"Deal."_

_--------------------------------------_

Thus far that deal wasn't turning out to be in his favour.

Rushing up to them from the casino floor nearly five minutes after Lady and Vergil had reached the elevator doors; Danny apologized as he pressed the up button on one of the elevator doors and then took a moment to catch his breath.

"I don't know what you said to that woman, but I just spent the last ten minutes persuading her not to sue!" Danny finally spoke, straightening now that he had caught his breath.

Silently glad that he had successfully struck such fear into the woman, Vergil murmured caustically, "She should be thankful that I do not sue her."

Looking to Vergil with a confused and somewhat disbelieving look, Danny questioned, "She didn't actually hurt you, did she?"

Pulling away from the wall where he had been leaning when the elevator door opened, Vergil answered simply, his blue eyes piercing into Danny's pointedly, "I believe that is not the point."

A glance at Lady as they entered into the elevator, revealed an accusing glare, her bi-coloured eyes speaking worlds of displeasure at his uncooperative attitude.

Snorting disdainfully and turning from her, he leaned against the side of the elevator and crossing his arms against his chest, watched as Lady took the opposite wall and once more opened the case file in her hands.

Women! After dealing with three very head strong women - one in particular giving him no end of trouble - over the last year, Vergil had seriously begun to contemplate how his father had ever managed to put up with his mother.

Fidgeting uncomfortably in the silence that was so tense and so thick a knife would have been needed to cut through it, Danny stood between both of the demon hunters. When the elevator came to a stop on the correct floor, the poor man nearly jumped out of his skin in relief; his job mere moments from being completed.

Waiting for Lady to exit first, Vergil already could foresee the disaster approaching as Lady refused to put the file down and the hotel staff had carelessly left a cleaning cart in the middle of the hallway.

Smirking in glee at Lady's impending doom - Dante had said nothing about saving Lady from her own misfortunes, and this was just the type of small revenge that he was in dire need of - Vergil was faced with a mixture of emotions as the raven-haired huntress nimbly avoided the cart, her booted feet not even missing a beat as she continued down the hall.

Irritated that he hadn't had any sort of revenge, yet still secretly impressed, Vergil was reminded of his days spent working alongside Arkham. Regardless of how involved in study the man had been, he also had been meticulously aware of his surroundings, and although Lady would vehemently deny any such comparison, Vergil decided that she was not completely unlike her late father.

Stopping before a door, Danny knocked sharply on it and waited patiently for a reply.

Coming to a halt directly behind Lady as they too waited, Vergil took advantage of his superior height and peered over Lady's shoulder, examining the contents of the folder for the first time.

Studying a photo quietly, his eyes paying close attention to the wounds on the body within the picture, Vergil deduced that they could not have been caused by a ghost, but by something significantly more powerful. Skimming the report opposite the photo, his eyes settled on the time of death. "Dawn." he murmured softly, causing Lady to lift her head and look at him over her shoulder.

She was kept form saying anything as a permission of entry was given and Danny opened the door into an extravagant suite.

Both hunters were guided swiftly across a spacious living room, the very modern furniture looking more stylish than comfortable. The suite itself was brightly lit by the afternoon sun, as large picture windows allowed the sun rays freedom.

Vergil paused to study a seemingly out of place African tribal mask when a resounding crash from just the next room put his senses on high alert. Seeing Lady stiffen as well at the sound, Vergil moved forward, coming to her side once more, the mask now forgotten in light of the possible danger.

As another crash sounded, Vergil's fingers twitched, yearning for the comforting grip of his sword. Danny brought them into the next room, completely unperturbed by the sounds. The moment they took their first step into the room, Vergil irritably felt rather ridicules.

The suite, as it turned out was also equipped with a single lane bowling alley, the crashing having originated from the pins being struck down.

"Mr. Palmer," Danny started addressing the only other man in the room, whom seemed to be paying them little heed as he reached for the bowling ball as it returned on its chute. "Mr. Vergil Sparda and Miss…" Danny paused and looked to Lady in askance.

"Lady," She spoke with a slight measure of annoyance.

"Thank you Danny. That will be all for now." The man spoke, bringing the ball to his chest and then with a few quick movements sent it spinning down the lane.

If this was the urgent matter that the man had been attending to over meeting them at the airport, Vergil was even less impressed than he would have been just by looking at him. Dressed in blue jeans and a gaudily coloured Hawaiian shirt, Vergil would have never taken this man to be the type of business man required to successfully run an establishment like the Alegra.

The ball struck the pins causing another crash as Danny departed.

"Lady, hmm?" Mr. Palmer turned toward them for the first time. "Something wrong with your given name?"

Hands folded neatly over the case file, Lady's face remained completely emotionless under the scrutiny of their new client. "A long story. One I would prefer not to discuss." she answered formally.

"Fair enough." Palmer spoke, scratching his black scruffy beard absently. There was a clunk as the bowling ball returned down its chute, rolling past Vergil as the pins were reset. "So, Mr. Sparda, I hear you've been missing for some time. In fact a certificate of death was even issued, mind clarifying that?" Palmer continued, picking up the newly returned ball.

Frowning deeply at being interrogated, Vergil answered sharply, "My business is my own, and none of your concern."

"Maybe so, but…" Palmer started, lining up once more to send the ball rolling again, but was prevented from asking more by Lady's cold voice.

"As I recall Mr. Palmer, it was you who asked us here. Considering the nature of our business, it is we whom should be scrutinizing how you came by 'our' number and why it is that you believe you require 'our' services."

Vergil couldn't help but smile inwardly as Palmer turned toward Lady once more to stare at her in surprise. Honestly he didn't think he could have done a better job.

For his credit Palmer recovered quickly. "Apologies." he stated, his dark eyes meeting Lady's unwaveringly. "But I did not get to where I am today by taking chances."

"Then the back ground checks you've already done on us should be enough." Lady returned curtly, her voice all business.

"For you, yes. Unfortunately, there are 'many' holes in your companion's records."

Vergil narrowed his eyes at the insinuation, but wisely kept his mouth shut, allowing instead for Lady to handle the matter.

"As I said it was 'you' that asked us here and I know for a fact, Dante vouched for his brother. If that is not enough then there is no sense in us wasting anymore of our time here." Lady defended, her face completely devoid of emotion, save for her bi-coloured eyes which burned hotly, daring their new client to challenge her.

After a few moments, Palmer conceded the win to Lady. "Very well." he said and turned back to his bowling lane.

Rather than smirk or grin in her achievement over the hotel owner, Lady remained silent, the same unemotional expression on her face.

The bowling ball went rolling down the wooden lane crashing once more into the pins before Palmer spoke again. "Have you had a chance to look over the file yet?"

"I've glanced over it." Lady responded matter-of-factly.

"Good. Have you any idea what it might be?" Palmer asked, paying either of them little attention as the damn ball returned yet again.

"Not with so little information. Have you tried hiring perhaps some local hunters?" Lady asked, the tone of her voice suggesting that the case was beneath their expertise something that Vergil was already heartily agreeing with.

"Those would be the last set of victims." Palmer stated, picking up the ball and sending it down the lane yet again. "They attempted to document their presumed success of the hunt. Danny has all their gear." Palmer finished, the ball crashing once again.

"Did they say if they had any clue as to what they were dealing with?" Lady asked.

"They were unable to pinpoint anything exact and had decided on spending the entire night within the suite in question in hopes of sighting and perhaps eliminating the menace." Palmer replied as the ball returned.

Vergil decided that that wasn't such a bad idea, unless of course you were a weak and apparently stupid human. There was little though that could injure him and even less things within the human world that he couldn't kill. Therefore the failed plan of the human hunters would suit him just fine and if all went well, which he was certain it would, then he could metaphorically 'stick it to Dante' and be on the first flight home.

Jolted from his thoughts by the collision of the bowling ball hitting the pins, Vergil decided enough was enough! A glance at Lady told him that she was pointedly ignoring everything that was going on around her, focusing exclusively on her conversation with their client.

Internally grinning like a madman, Vergil folded his arms over his chest and watched Palmer line himself up once more, waiting patiently for his chance to strike. Vergil's eyes followed the bowling ball as it rolled down the lane, concentrating on it as it struck the pins. Discreetly pointing his finger toward the dark space behind the pins, Vergil waited for the ball to disappear into darkness before summoning his mystic swords to surround the out-of-sight bowling ball.

There was a satisfying sound of crunching and grinding as his magical swords sliced through the ball.

Startled by the noise, Palmer looked toward the return chute, as the now mangled ball rolled back toward him. Picking it up, the ball fell into four perfect quarters in Palmer's tanned hands. "I've never heard of that happening before." he muttered, walking forward to inspect the mechanics of the bowling lane.

Feeling Lady's glare, Vergil turned to look at her giving her the most innocent look he could muster. Lady very clearly didn't buy it, as she narrowed her eyes and shook her head, completely aware of what he had just done but not willing to argue about it in front of their client.

Vergil responded with a shrug, just as Palmer returned from his inspection.

"I'll have to get that checked out." Palmer muttered, his dark eyes going to the ruined bowling ball. Sighing, he turned away from the bowling lane and with a gesture headed into a smaller less brightly lit room. "We'll finish our meeting in my office."

Lady nodded and followed after him silently. Once again Vergil brought up the rear, entering into the decently sized office. Gazing around him at the oddities adorning the walls and corners of the office, Vergil was slightly confused as to the reason behind such an odd collection. An old saddle, an antique suit of armour, a broad sword and a Mexican sombrero, were just a few of the ridicules assortment of objects.

Palmer moved around a moderately sized mahogany desk, gesturing to the two chairs standing before it. "Have a seat."

Both hunters took their seats with the feline grace that was practically a job requirement.

"As I was going to say, I'll have Danny set everything up for you." said Palmer, taking a seat himself. Catching Vergil's gaze on the mounted broad sword, the hotel owner smiled. "You like my collection?"

Turning his head to meet Palmer's dark piercing gaze with his own frozen one, Vergil answered stiffly. "An odd assortment to be sure."

"Things I've come across in my travels." Palmer stated pride fully, seemingly unfazed by Vergil's frosty gaze.

Clearing her throat, Lady successfully ended the staring contest and brought Palmer back to business. "There is still the matter of our accommodations and fee." she said, crossing one leg over the other.

"Of course." Palmer answered, his attention focusing once more entirely on Lady. "Your accommodations have already been taken care of. You'll be staying in the renaissance suite, since it'll give you a bit more added incentive to deal with the issue in a timely order."

Lady frowned deeply in displeasure, Vergil's own expression a near match to hers. "I'm afraid that is not acceptable." Lady nearly ground out. "We will need two…" she wasn't able to finish as Palmer chuckled and rudely interrupted.

"Don't think I'll be paying for two rooms for the both of you. You'll be staying in the suite in question, and that's final." Palmer stated and before Lady could open her mouth, Palmer continued. "Besides, I'm sure two beautiful people such as yourselves won't be doing much sleeping anyway." He winked suggestively, eyeing both hunters sitting before him.

"Excuse me!?"

"Pardon me!?" Vergil and Lady responded in unison, both surprised and aghast at Palmer's suggestion.

"Well as they say 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' so it's a prime opportunity to vent all of that sexual frustration." Palmer practically beamed and Vergil narrowed his eyes dangerously.

He knew without a doubt that somehow Dante was behind the hotel owner's idea.

"At the very least, a second bed." Lady nearly pleaded.

"Nope. The room will stay as is and if that is not acceptable, then I'm sure there are a number of men and women currently staying within the hotel that would be more than happy to 'share' their beds." Palmer replied, his grin downgrading to halfway between a frown and a smile, which combined with his black beard looked downright sadistic.

If Vergil had been aghast at the idea of sleeping with Lady, he was utterly repulsed by the notion of quite literally pimping himself out to the female clientele of the hotel.

"I think I'll take my chances." Lady grumbled out angrily, voicing his exact thoughts.

Slightly surprised by Lady's apparent ability to accurately read his thoughts, Vergil glanced toward her to see her glaring at Palmer, with her hands clenched tightly in her lap to keep herself from jumping up and throttling their client. Inwardly happy that he wasn't the only one thinking of disembowelling the over eager casino owner, Vergil relaxed back into his seat, eager to see the outcome of any of Lady's further negotiations.

Visibly taking a deep breath, Lady continued her negotiations in a tight cold voice. "As for our fee… we have a starting rate of five hundred thousand."

Vergil knew that Dante's normal starting rate for those that could afford it - for those that couldn't it was adjusted or sometimes waved - was only one hundred thousand, though he could completely understand why Lady was dramatically raising the fee. The longer he spent in Las Vegas the more irritated he became, the hotel and casino owner sitting before them doing little to alleviate that irritation.

"If it turns out to only be a simple spectre or something else that is dealt with easily we'll only charge an additional one hundred thousand. If it is something worse… I'll determine the charge." Lady stated, the tone of her voice leaving no room for argument.

Palmer's smile completely faded as he too returned to the business at hand, finding a formidable opponent in Lady. "How soon will you know what it is?"

"Tomorrow morning." Vergil spoke before Lady even had a chance to formulate her answer and received a pointed glare for the effort.

Palmer nodded and Lady continued, "If either of us are injured not only will you be responsible for any medical costs, but you will also pay an additional five hundred thousand in compensation. If a fatality occurs, the compensation fee goes up to a million."

Palmer sat quietly, chewing on the inside of his cheek, undoubtedly mulling over Lady's terms, perhaps even attempting to gauge her seriousness. Unfortunately for him, Lady wasn't completely through yet.

"Furthermore, any additional costs we might incur will also be covered by you." Satisfied that she had now covered everything, Lady relaxed back into her seat.

"What type of additional costs?" Palmer asked, his lips twisting in concentration.

Lady waved her hand in a gesture that meant she thought it should be obvious. "Food, transportation, extra equipment… things like that."

Stroking his short beard, Palmer remained quiet for many long minutes as he thought things over carefully. Finally, he leaned forward, eyeing Lady sharply across the desk. "You drive a hard bargain, Lady. If you can promise me to have the matter dealt with within the week, I'll give you everything you want and more."

Lady nodded, "Unless something unforeseen happens, then I'm sure we can have this mess cleaned up in less time than that."

Smiling, Palmer stood and extended his hand to seal the agreement.

Both Lady and Vergil stood, though only Lady accepted Palmer's hand and shook it formally.

"Wonderful!" Palmer spoke, practically beaming at the two hunters. "I'll have Danny take you to the room and if there's anything else you need… just talk to my hotel concierge Charlotte. She'll be sure to get you anything."

Vergil almost wondered if this Charlotte would be able to do away with her boss for him.

Authors Note: Well look I finally updated. Took a long time, but life has a way of doing that to you. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'm looking forward to all your thoughts. Talk to all of you soon... hopefully. Also LadyRoze has started a doujinshi on her deviant art page. She is an amazing artist, and you should all check it out at ladyroze. Deviantart .com/!


	4. Stubborn Research

Disclaimer: I do not own the boys, Lady, or DMC. Capcom does and they should be ashamed about what they are doing to Dante!

Chapter 4: Stubborn Research

Lady was the first to step into the room as Danny politely held the door open to her.

Brushing past not even a second later, Vergil made a bee-line for the cart of their entire luggage which stood in the center of the room.

Lady watched him with a bemused expression as he pulled aside her carry-on bag and another suit case before reaching his prize. Running his hands slowly over the long, narrow weapon's case, Vergil deftly pulled a key out of an inner pocket on his long blue coat and carefully inserted it into the case lock.

Sighing, Lady wanted nothing more than to join him and ascertain that her own beloved weapons were all accounted for and in the same pristine condition that she had packed them away in. Unfortunately there were a lot more important things to attend to first.

Looking back to Danny, she found him watching Vergil with wide eyes. "Uhem," she cleared her throat slightly to catch the young man's attention. When his eyes turned at least part ways in her direction, she started with her orders. "Your boss said you had all the gear and video tapes that those local hunters had been using. I'll need to see all of it."

"Uh, yeah. I've got all of that stuff down in the security offices. Give me an hour and I'll have it ready for you." he replied, most of his attention still focused on Vergil who was lifting the elegant katana from its case reverently. "Is that real?" Danny breathed out in awe.

Glancing back in Vergil's direction to catch sight of the partially unsheathed gleaming blade as Vergil inspected it critically; Lady sighed and answered, "Yes. In the right hands it is a very effective tool against supernatural beings."

Danny's face went nearly ashen and his voice lowered even further. "Are his the 'right' hands?" he asked, swallowing noisily.

"It is his sword." Lady replied, hearing the click as Vergil sheathed Yamato. Relieved, she stepped into Danny's line of sight to take his attention fully off Vergil. "I'll also need to talk with your contact within the police department. If you could set up a meeting for tonight yet, it would be greatly appreciated."

With his sight forcibly diverted from Vergil, Danny's light brown eyes met hers and he nodded, becoming professional once more. "I'll have it arranged. If you'd like to meet me down in the lobby in an hour, then I should have everything you need by then."

"Thank-you" Lady spoke, and turned away from Danny as he took his leave, closing the door softly behind himself.

With Danny gone, Lady took stock of her surroundings, glancing over the room with a quick but trained eye. The room wasn't overly large but neither was it small. Separated by a small rise in the floor, a large bed took up most of the space on the elevated portion of the floor, with only two lone dressers standing against the wall beside it. On the portion of the room that wasn't elevated, on which she was currently standing, an antique wooden table and chair set stood just off to the side from where she stood. Further off and back toward the opposite wall another old piece of furniture sat, the antique globe and small representation of Leonardo DaVinci's flying machine ordained the top of the old desk. Paintings of all sorts decorated the walls, while pottery and sculptures sat atop any available space.

"Well, I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been a safari theme." Lady mused absently.

Spinning the old globe, Vergil looked away from it and toward her. "Oh come now, surely you wouldn't prefer snuggling up to the poor imitation of a skinned cat and run about pretending to be an Amazon warrior?" Vergil teased, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Completely flabbergasted by Vergil's uncharacteristic teasing, Lady blinked dumbfounded at him for a few moments before she was able to collect herself and respond. "You know, most of the time I have a hard time believing you and Dante could even be related, never mind actually being siblings. But then every so often you go and say something 'demented', just like now, and I am very clearly reminded of the fact that you two are 'very' much twins." Lady said with a shake of her head.

Pointedly ignoring the glare that was now focused on her, Lady headed to the cart of luggage to insure that all of her own weapons had made it through the trip.

Pausing, Lady glanced toward Vergil again - now that he had given up glaring at her - to find him once more patrolling the perimeter of their hotel room. A smirk lit Lady's features as she watched him; her own personal walking, talking, breathing EMF reader. On the plus side, he was far more accurate and had the ability to inform her of what type of creature was producing the EMF signals, compared to that of a digital device. The biggest problem lay in that unlike the small electronic contraption, Vergil only told her as much as he was willing to give up.

Frowning at that thought, Lady mumbled "jerk" under her breath before returning to her previous task of pulling out and inspecting all of her guns.

Once she had insured that all her weapons were in order, Lady fitted a knife into the side of her boot - she honestly hated going anywhere without some sort of weapon on her person - and looked around once more for Vergil. Unable to find him within the direct vicinity of her, she mounted the few steps that would take her into the elevated bedroom. The bed was massive and an exquisite piece of artwork in its own as roses were intricately carved into the headboard, baseboard and even the legs of the rich wooden frame.

Behind the bed, the room opened out onto a balcony where Vergil stood leaning against the rail gazing out over the city. Joining him, Lady crossed her arms on the rail and leaned against it, enjoying for many long moments the comfortable silence and Vergil's quiet presence that he so rarely offered.

"Pathetic." Vergil broke the silence with his venomous voice. "A whole city devoted entirely to creating the illusion of perfection, little more than a mirage in a desert. It is insanity to believe that the world and its problems would come to an end upon entry."

"Maybe. But is it so bad to try and forget about the evils of the world and you own problems for a little bit and just relax in the sun and pretend even for just a few couple of hours that the world has stopped turning?" asked Lady, looking at Vergil through her hair as she continued to lean against the rail.

"Why try to pretend? The darkness beyond the light will always be there waiting. Why wait, hiding within the light, to confront the darkness? It will not disappear and the longer you pretend it does not exist, the stronger it will become. Just the same as a person who lazily puts off changing the burnt out light bulbs in his home, only to wake up one day to find that all the lights have burnt out." Vergil replied bitterly, his head turning just enough so that he could watch her.

Seeing that this wasn't getting anywhere and beginning to agree with Vergil - a dangerous notion in itself - Lady expertly changed the subject. "So do you think Dante had anything to do with it?" she asked, turning her head to look back out over the city and prevent Vergil from seeing how close he had come to convincing her of his point.

Blinking at the abrupt change in subject, Vergil stepped away from the rail, turning to head back into the hotel room. "Was there ever any doubt. Palmer has not the gall to come up with such an idea on his own."

Pushing away from the rail, Lady followed Vergil at a leisurely pace. "That's what I figured. Remind me to kick Dante's ass when we get back."

"I'm certain you will have no trouble remembering on your own." Vergil spoke with a glance over his shoulder as he headed past the large bed with long graceful strides. He paused at the railing that separated the elevated bedroom, looking out over the rest of the room, his frozen eyes falling on a painting directly across from him of a dark haired stern looking young woman. Though not the Mona Lisa it was a very good portrait, making the woman look almost life like.

"What are you feeling?" Lady questioned seriously, referring to the EMF signals that were no-doubt tingling Vergil's demonic blood. Dante had often laughed and jokingly said his 'spider-sense was tingling', when placed in similar situations.

There was no reaction from Vergil and after many long tense minutes when Lady was about ready to throw her hands up in frustration and thoughts of chocking the necessary answers out of Vergil, flittered through her head, did he finally speak. "There is a spirit trapped within the painting, but it is not the painting that I find most perplexing."

"What?" asked Lady, if Vergil found something perplexing then it usually meant nothing but trouble.

Instead of giving her a straight answer though, a devilish smirk pulled at his lips, causing Lady's insides to recoil and her defences to flare to life.

"Perhaps a game is in order, or rather a test to determine the depth of your own hunter instincts. Can you locate the object of my bewilderment without my assistance?" he challenged haughtily, making it sound as if she were nothing more than a novice hunter.

Bristling with barely contained fury, Lady pulled her hands into tight fists and with great effort kept them at her side and growled out, "I'm not playing your stupid game, I don't have anything to prove. If anyone needs to prove something it's you!"

Raising an elegant platinum eyebrow, Vergil did not rise to her bait; instead he turned from her and goaded her on. "Well then I will take your accusatory statement as an admission of incapability."

Outraged, Lady slammed her fist on the rail, wishing for nothing more than to wipe that smirk off the white haired devil's face. With her temper flaring, she nearly fell for Vergil's challenge, but Lady caught herself in the last second from marching down into the rest of the room and finding the offending object. Instead she forced herself to calm down and think rationally, she knew the game he was playing all too well. Two can play that game! "Or maybe…" she carried out the last word in a soft almost seductive tone. To further make an impact she slowly circled around Vergil until she stood directly in front of him before continuing her worded assault. "It's really you that is incapable, and your 'game'," she stressed the word and carefully kept full eye contact with the glacial blue eyes of her opponent. Lifting a hand to place on his black silk covered chest, Lady's wrist was caught and held before she could actually touch the icy cold demon standing before her. Paying no mind to his grip on her, Lady continued, "Is all just a ruse, to have me locate the object that is having your 'spidey-sense'," she used Dante's term for the ability, "tingling, so that you can keep face."

Vergil's eyes narrowed dangerously and he tugged her so close that all she needed to do was lean forward to press their bodies together. Dipping his head so that his warm breath ghosted over her ear and neck, causing shivers to race down Lady's spine, Vergil spoke huskily. "Don't push your luck." With that he released her and pulled away quickly, using his long strides to put distance between them.

Only when he was on the main level did Vergil speak again. "It is the vase." he proclaimed without giving away which vase in particular he meant or even bothering to look at her.

Lady continued watching Vergil's blue coated back as he moved away from her, still working on slowing the rate of her racing heart. She hated what he did to her when in such close proximity. Often, if their sparing matches hadn't been broken up by another member of Devil May Cry, the matches would also end up with the same results. It didn't matter who was the victor, their eyes would lock and their bodies stiffen and then abruptly they would pull apart with either one of them or both nearly running for cover. Convincing herself that it was merely because of her hatred for the stuck up son of Sparda, and his for her, Lady was slowly beginning to find it more and more difficult to convince herself of that reality and instead small nagging doubts about the issue began to bother her. She wondered if these same doubts plagued Vergil, though she'd rather die than ask him about it.

Bringing her body back under control with a final shuddering breath, Lady went to work. Taking the long way around in order to keep her eyes cautiously on Vergil, as one might watch a large predator - it wasn't that she was afraid of him, Lady was quite capable of holding her own against him, it was just that she didn't trust him - Lady did a quick sweep of the room until she found what she was looking for.

Taking all of her gaze off the blue-coated devil sitting nearly across the room from her, Lady focused entirely on the painting. The dark-haired woman within the painting seemed to glare down at any observer.

A shiver traced its way up Lady's spine and the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention as she felt Vergil's sharp gaze on her, his gaze as intense as the one she had been giving him. Quelling the shivers, Lady couldn't help but feel a certain measure of pride that Vergil - the high and mighty son of Sparda - considered her enough of a threat to warrant so much of his attention.

Giving Vergil no more heed, Lady focused on her job and lowering her gaze from the possessed painting gave her attention to the unassuming old clay vase that sat atop a cabinet that was used to store the table cloths in.

Picking up the vase, Lady examined the odd symbols and markings that had been etched into the clay. Somehow the symbols seemed familiar and yet… not. Frowning at the puzzle that was being provided, Lady pulled out the flowers that the hotel staff had casually placed into it and dumped them into a nearby waste basket.

Turning, she placed the vase on the dining table and pulled out one of the high backed chairs. Before sitting, she moved back to the cart containing their luggage and rummaged through it until she found the briefcase containing the laptop that Lucia had insisted on her taking, and the notebook that she always took with her on out of town jobs.

Returning to the table and the vase, Lady set up her research materials on the table and took a seat in the comfortable antique chair.

A look in Vergil's direction told her that he hadn't moved from his spot in an arm chair in front of the TV. He sat rigidly watching her, Yamato leaning in a relaxed position against his knee.

"So is this it?" Lady asked, gesturing with a sweep of her hand to both the vase before her and the painting still on the wall.

"I detected nothing more." Vergil answered stiffly and then visibly relaxing, his blue eyes looked elsewhere and a bored expression returned to his face.

Lady rolled her eyes at his attitude and then opened her notebook giving the vase her undivided attention once more.

After sketching the seemingly archaic symbols into her notebook, Lady opened the laptop and snarled in frustration as she caught a glimpse of the time. "Damn it!" she was supposed to meet Danny in only a minute.

Standing she shut the laptop and snapped her notebook closed. She was about to leave the room when she realised that Vergil hadn't moved even a muscle. Moving rapidly back through the room, Lady stopped to look down at Vergil in annoyance. "We're going to be late." she snapped irritably.

"'You' will be late." Vergil responded by stressing the singular pronoun, still making no move to get up as both of his arms were relaxed on the arms of his chair with his hands dangling over the edges.

Lady narrowed her ruby and sapphire eyes. "You're not coming?" she asked and even as the words left her mouth she knew he would rebuke her for it.

As expected he lifted his face, annoyance marring his handsome features. "I had taken you for higher intelligence; my apparent mistake." he spoke viciously. "In answer to your question… no, I am 'not' coming."

Grinding her teeth, Lady had the urge to try and throttle him yet again. "So what, you're just going to sit here then?" she asked through clenched teeth, her fists balled once more at her sides.

"That is precisely what I intend to do." The statement was said with such arrogance that Lady would have liked nothing more than to flip the chair over backwards and knock the pompous half-devil off his high horse.

Forcing herself to breathe and control her rising hatred for the dark twin, Lady recalled the words he had told her months ago about rushing into battle, now she used those same words against him. "And whatever happened to 'study your opponent before engaging in combat'?" she asked in mocking tones.

Vergil's glare would have instantly killed any insect unwary enough to fly through his line of sight. "I 'fully' intend on 'studying' the creature," Vergil sneered; the only sign other than his glare of his rising ire was a small twitch in the fingers of his right hand.

Lady noticed the twitch and curl of Vergil's long fingers as he undoubtedly thought of curling his fingers around Yamato's hilt, but as per usual she refused to back down to him and as he finished his sentence she wished for the comforting grip of one of her guns or possibly even Kalina Ann.

"Moments before I kill it." Vergil continued his onslaught. "But you - a human - would be incapable of understanding such tactics." Vergil sneered, his eyes tempting… No! Daring her to disagree and start the fight that they were both itching to begin.

Red bursts appeared in Lady's vision as she used every fibre of her being to keep herself from doing something… anything. She would behave herself, even if Vergil could not. He may have been too much of a gentleman to strike the first physical blow, but the white-haired devil before her was as much a master of words as he was a master of the elegant sword leaning against his leg, and at the moment those words may as well have been made of sharpened matter.

Seeing that she was in fact not going to attack him, Vergil looked away, bored once more, and with a dismissive wave of his hand let the last of his verbal strikes drop. "So run along then and attend to 'your research'. You can be assured that come morning the case will have been dealt with and then we can return home at the earliest opportunity."

If there was one thing Lady hated more than being called 'human', 'weak' and 'incapable', it was being ordered around. Screaming in both rage and frustration, Lady turned on heel and nearly ran for the door before she did something she would regret.

Passing the dining table, Lady grabbed a worthless candlestick that was being used as a centerpiece and turning back in Vergil's direction snarled wrathfully, "I Don't Take Orders From You!" With that said, she flung the candlestick hatefully at Vergil's head and without waiting to see, and not particularly caring about the outcome, she marched to the door, her booted heels ringing against the wooden floor boards with each step. Flinging the door open, she slammed it shut behind herself.

It took the entire trip down to the lobby of the hotel before Lady had calmed down enough to not only think rationally, but to also prevent herself from further frightening hotel guests with the venomous look she had worn since leaving Vergil.

She really couldn't believe how childish he was being - that normally being more of Dante's prerogative. Ever since this morning though Vergil had worked overtime at letting her know that he didn't want to be going anywhere and with only two respites, he also seemed to deliberately be trying to draw her into a fight. She knew though, like herself, it was only in battle where he truly relieved pent up stress. With the only outlet of his frustrations being her, and with an apparent overpowering need to vent that was great enough for Vergil to disregard the rules, it was up to Lady to ensure that proper behaviour was maintained.

Sighing, Lady pulled a gloved hand through her dark hair. Funny, she thought mildly, she understood Vergil so well... yet they just couldn't stop their constant bickering.

Stepping off the elevator as it came to a stop and the doors opened, Lady found Danny already waiting.

"Just you?" Danny asked craning his head around in attempts to look for Vergil.

"Yes." Lady answered grouchily, reminded of why that was.

"Oh," Danny visibly relaxed and smiled charmingly. "Our police contact will meet with you here at the casino around midnight. In the meantime I got all that stuff set up for you, but before that I was thinking maybe you'd like to get something to eat?"

At the mere mention of food, Lady's stomach quickly reminded her of the fact that she hadn't eaten anything since before getting on the airplane early in the morning.

Danny grinned knowingly as he too heard the loud grumble of Lady's stomach. "Come on, the restaurant here is really good." He gestured with a wave of his hand and began walking across the casino's main floor.

Flushing in embarrassment at the lack of her body's control, Lady nodded helplessly and followed the young sandy haired man.

* * *

An hour later and Lady readily admitted that Danny had been right; the food in the casino's restaurant was to die for. She couldn't help but eye the delicious chocolate cake sitting before her, even though her stomach felt about to burst. Giving in, she revelled in its rich taste and listened absently as Danny continued to talk. Within the last hour she had learned that despite his youth, Danny had already made head of security at the casino. An impressive feat and decidedly worthy of her respect, although his insistence that there was no such things as ghosts, goblins, demons and any other supernatural being despite evidence to the contrary, had lost that briefly won respect.

Sticking another piece of the moist cake in her mouth, Lady decided that Vergil was a fool for missing this. There was nothing better than chocolate cake with rich butter chocolate frosting! She paused that thought as her ears caught the words massage and spa coming out of Danny's mouth. 'Cept that, Lady mused thoughtfully.

Danny kept speaking, painting a vivid image of the beautiful pool and spa area, likening it to that of an exotic oasis.

Hmmm, maybe she would have to use at least one day of their trip and take the rare chance to relax. A stray thought that could only have come from some naughty part of her brain, entertained the idea of convincing Vergil to done a pair of trunks and join her in relaxing under the hot desert sun.

Horrified a second later by that particular thought, the sane and rational part of Lady's mind quickly caught and stomped out the insane idea hoping that it would be gone for good. Vergil in trunks… that'd be the day!

Finishing the decadent treat, Lady decided then that if she ingested anything else, she really was going to bust.

"Danny!" A woman's voice called and Lady watched as Danny cringed.

Looking up, Lady continued to watch as a darkly tanned woman walked up to their table. Much taller than Lady herself was, the woman brushed her curly black hair absently over her shoulder and looked down at Danny in both irritation and disapproval.

"Danny, I need you to look up some footage for me." she demanded, placing a hand on the hip of the black dress pants she wore. The rest of hr attire was also stylish yet conservative, with a glitzy light tan top standing out on the woman the most.

"Ah, Charlotte, I'm kinda busy right now." Danny answered softly, attempting to speak out of the corner of his mouth.

"I don't care." Charlotte responded, her full glossed lips pursing together in further annoyance. "I need that footage."

Seeing this as an excellent opportunity to get back to her own work, Lady integrated nonchalantly. "I actually need to get back to my own research, so if you'd be so kind as to show me that equipment I requested…"

Danny sighed in defeat while Charlotte, as if noticing Lady for the first time, looked over her critically, quietly sizing Lady up. Lady didn't mind the scrutiny as she similarly sized the other woman up. Like herself, Lady found that the concierge lived for her job, doing all that was necessary to complete her tasks and keep the guests of the hotel happy. Charlotte's style of fashion was right up Vergil's aisle. While accenting her figure, it was neither revealing nor overly conservative, leaving the black haired casino hostess as an ever unattainable object of desire to any she crossed paths with.

Lady could respect that, though often her choice of clothing was just more practical for the work she did - the less baggy clothing she wore, the less of a chance the demons had of catching a hold of her and therefore the greater her chances were of walking away from a battle unscathed.

Apparently satisfied with what she saw, Charlotte's gaze relaxed and she spoke in an approving tone. "Well I'm glad to see Palmer actually hired some decent hunters this time." she held out a well manicured hand. "I'm Charlotte. If you need anything, just come find me."

Standing, Lady took the offered hand and shook it easily. "Lady." she introduced herself, and then curiously asked, "I take it you aren't in denial about the supernatural like Danny here is?" Lady gestured with a gloved hand to the young security manager who was only now getting up.

Charlotte chuckled at the red blush that crept up the fair skin of Danny's cheeks. "I'm not so sure about ghosts, but I've seen what demons are capable of." Charlotte answered seriously.

"Can we get going?" Danny interrupted impatiently now that he was being ignored by both women.

Without answering, Charlotte turned and walked out of the restaurant, her heels hitting the tiled floor sharply. Quickly taking the lead from her in an attempt to maintain his role of importance and repair his injured pride, Danny led them though the casino.

Moving into step with the taller woman, Lady continued her conversation, curious about what Charlotte had meant by 'decent hunters'. "So the last hunters… you think they were just too young or something?" Lady questioned.

Charlotte snorted in disdain. "More like internet dorks on a mission to prove that aliens exist."

"Complete with face full's of acne." Danny added with a mocking chuckle.

Frowning at that information, Lady knew if Vergil found out he'd have a field day with it, going on and on about the wretchedness of humans.

Charlotte did not allow Lady's thoughts to go any further as she continued brightly. "But it's nice to see a woman capable of handling herself against the things that go bump in the night."

Utterly flattered by the comment, Lady smiled pride fully as Charlotte continued cheerfully. "Not to mention it must come with some pretty sweet job perks."

"Well," Lady started, happy to oblige Charlotte's curiosity. "I do have an arsenal of guns."

"Cool!" Charlotte murmured in awe.

"I even have a rocket launcher."

"Is that even legal?" Danny asked glancing over his shoulder to look at the two women behind him as he paused to open a door marked employees only.

Lady shrugged uncaringly, and Charlotte saved her from answering the question by asking another of her own. "I guess you also get to deal with a lot of hot guys, hmm?"

That was a topic that Lady was not altogether comfortable with, usually leaving it to Lucia and Trish to discuss and kept her opinions to herself. It didn't mean that she was blind though and feeling a new companionship with the confident casino hostess, Lady decided to indulge for a change.

"Well…" she began, allowing for a little suspense. "My business partner and his brother are Brad Pitt rivals."

"Really?" Charlotte asked in disbelief, her dark eyes widening. "Wow!" she exclaimed and then as an idea visibly hit her, Charlotte slowly smirked. "And one of these eye candy brothers is the man that came here with you, right?" she asked, a plan already forming in her mind.

"Yes." Lady answered slowly not yet sure if she liked where Charlotte's apparently devious mind was going.

"Hmmm…" Charlotte's smirk grew. "Then we'll need to see about…"

"Charlotte!" Danny rebuked crossly. "They are here to work, not to put on a show for the rest of the guests in the hotel!" He stood next to a door in the long hallway that they had just traversed through with both hand on his hips.

"Bah, you're no fun." Charlotte grumbled, and folded her arms over her chest in retaliation.

Looking between the two uncertainly, Lady waited for what seemed an eternity before Danny turned toward the door and opened it. "I have all the possessions of those dead hunters in here. If you need anything else at all, I'll be just two doors down on your right hand side in the control room."

Lady nodded and then stopped just as she was about to enter into the small room. "Actually I forgot my laptop and notebook upstairs in the room." she said, irritated that she had forgotten those two important items and all because a certain half-demon was being his usual asshole self.

"I can get it for you." Charlotte offered helpfully, though Lady could only guess of the ulterior motives behind it.

"Thank you, but I think it would be best to get it myself." Lady stated; she really didn't want to have to subject anyone else to Vergil's rotten mood, nor run the risk of someone else getting hurt because of him.

"Nonsense, it won't be a problem." Charlotte smiled and with a quick look into the room said, "Besides, it looks like you've got a ton of junk to wade through. You can get started, Danny can get the footage I need and I'll get your stuff."

Lady sighed, the hotel concierge was right of course. "Alright, thank you. But just to warn you, you may not want to disturb the white haired blue blob sitting in the easy chair."

"Bad day?" Charlotte asked knowingly.

"Something like that." Lady grumbled and walked into the room looking over the dead hunters' junk lying strewn over a table.

"I'll keep it in mind." Charlotte answered, and disappeared, her heels clicking against the floor as she walked back down the way they had come.

"Remember, I'm just two doors down." Danny supplied once more before he too disappeared, leaving Lady to sort through the collection of cameras, computers and other non-descript stuff once owned by the ill fated hunters.

Author's Note: Hey look I finally updated again! I went back to school last fall and am still taking the prerequisites for Medical Lab Technician, but I have the summer off from school and wanted to get back into writing again. Unfortunately, I'm struggling to get Vergil and Lady's characters right again, so if something seems amiss… please let me know. Also I haven't heard from shyanon, so if someone else out there is interested I am in need of a beta! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review!


	5. Detective Work

Disclaimer: I do not own the boys, Lady, or DMC. Capcom does and they should be ashamed about what they are doing to Dante!

Chapter 5: Detective Work

Lady spent the rest of the evening sorting through all the equipment previously owned by the human hunters that had been hired to the case only a week before she and Vergil had been enlisted. She scoured over each different object, becoming more annoyed as she worked. It seemed Charlotte and Danny hadn't been kidding about the inexperience of the hunters, they truly were nothing more than two boys whom had spent far too much time in their parents' basement, playing video games and working on conspiracy ideas. Seemingly when they had gotten their first opportunity to actually prove one of their conspiracy theories, they had jumped at it and gotten themselves killed for it.

Sadly, Lady found a few realistic looking weapons that were nothing more than toys. Even the film that she watched had proved Danny's assessment of acne covered teenagers. Fortunately not all of the information that the nerdy hunters had uncovered was garbage. In fact, although they had never been able to put to use any of their findings, Lady was able to uncover some of the mystery behind the odd symbols on Vergil's perplexing vase.

The symbols it seemed were alike to those used in witchcraft and the Wiccan art, but, as much as they were alike, they were not an exact match. Once Charlotte brought Lady her laptop, she e-mailed a picture of the vase and its symbols to Lucia and Trish, hoping that they might find a reference of them in one of the ancient books within their library back at the Devil May Cry offices.

Sighing, Lady got up and stretched. It was nearly midnight and she still needed to ask Danny for information regarding the acquirement of both the painting and the vase before she met with the Alegra's police contact. She casually watched the video of the ill-fated boys once more as she stretched, the film showing her the room just as the first rays of morning light filtered into the suite before the video turned to nothing more than dead static, in which the screams of the hunters could be barely heard as they were ripped apart. Then, just as abruptly, the video went dead, showing nothing more than a black screen. Lady shook her head, and closing her laptop and notebook headed out of the small closet like room.

She found Danny, as he had indicated, in the casino's security control room examining a number of television screens, each showing a different aspect of the casino's main floor.

"So did you get anything from that junk pile?" Danny asked, his eyes not leaving the wall of monitors before him. "Bring me up Black Jack table number three." he requested of a man sitting beside him at a computer terminal.

"Yeah," Lady answered, adjusting the strap of the bag containing her notebook and portable computer over her shoulder. "I'll just need to know where you got a hold of some things."

"Sure," Danny answered politely, his eyes still watching the screens ahead of him as they all changed to show one card table. "Just give me a minute."

Lady nodded and watched the screen absently, noticing just as Danny did the small movement of one man as he cheated at the card game.

Sighing, Danny picked up a small radio and putting it near his mouth spoke sharply into it, "Frank, discreetly converge on Black Jack table three and bring the man in the dark blue suit with the black stripped tie to interrogation room two."

There was a crackle as a response was made, and satisfied Danny turned toward Lady and added, "So which items are we talking about here?"

Turning to the desk she was standing nearest, she pulled the bag off her shoulder and removing the laptop, set it carefully down between two more computers. Opening the laptop, she brought up the images of the painting and vase to show Danny.

After carefully taking a look at both images, Danny nodded, "I'll see what I can dig up on them for you." Then checking his watch, looked back at her, "Detective Gabriele will be waiting for you at the bar in the restaurant lounge, if you want you can leave your things here for awhile," Danny suggested.

Lady shook her head, knowing she would need both items to keep track of any further information the detective could give her. "That will be alright, thank you," she stated, "But I don't suppose you could give me a bit of a description to look for?"

"Sure," Danny smiled, "He's pretty tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Usually dresses in a dark tan jacket and dark blue jeans. He also has a habit of drinking the hard stuff, so you might want to get to him before he starts up."

Lady's lips twisted up in amusement and after thanking Danny for his assistance, left the security room and headed to the bar. Just as Danny had said she found the detective already waiting for her, already starting on his first round of drinks.

Sitting down on a stool beside him Lady ordered a beer, before looking over at the detective. She was a bit surprised to find that he was actually much younger than his slightly beat up looking clothes made him out to be. In fact, not only was he fairly young, but he was nearly drop dead gorgeous!

"Not often that a young lady such as yourself orders beer," the detective's masculine voice spoke smoothly, his sharp blue eyes still staring into the golden hue of his drink.

"Not often you see a detective so young." Lady met the challenge easily; there were some benefits to constantly having verbal wars with Vergil.

"Well put," the detective smiled and looked toward her for the first time, his medium length golden hair brushed neatly in place. "Though I must say, I hadn't expected anything less."

Cocking her head in curiosity to his statement, Lady questioned suspiciously - though it was very hard to be suspicious of this man; he nearly radiated a sense of security. "I suppose Mr. Palmer and Danny told you about me in advance?

The detective chuckled softly, "No, no. If anything I've told them what I knew of you."

Confused, Lady's eyes narrowed, "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

"No. But you know my cousin fairly well," the detective responded, and tipped his glass back to down the rest of the golden liquid. "Leo is always going on and on about the people of Devil May Cry, with being a bit more specific about you."

Lady studied the detective more closely now, trying to see the resemblance of the quirky young detective Leo in this much more confident and handsome man sitting before her.

"Don't get stressed about it," the detective laughed. "We're only second cousins. By the way, my name is Mike Gabriele."

Relaxing, Lady smiled again, "Well, I don't suppose there is much use in introducing myself since I'm sure Leo's told you far more about me than I would have ever wanted to at an introduction."

Mike chuckled, "Probably, but I don't mind trying to find more out on my own."

Lady's smile brightened. Now, why couldn't Vergil ever be like this?

"But Danny said you needed to know some further details about your investigation, so what can I help you with?" Mike asked, ordering another drink just as her beer arrived.

Reminded of her business, Lady took a sip of her beer and answered seriously, "I was actually hoping that you might be able to get me in to the morgue to check out the bodies of those last two victims. Also any other information that you had would be helpful."

Mike considered the request for a few moments, and once he took a sip from his new drink, he replied softly, "I can probably help you out with that, but we'll have to go almost right away. The coroners don't like people that they don't know in their morgue. They're kinda jumpy around the living."

Lady nodded, "Sure, I'm ready whenever you are."

Mike grinned, "Great, just let me finish my drink."

Minutes later they were heading through the less glamorous part of Las Vegas in Mike's simple Toyota. Far more used to the wonders of powerful vehicles, Lady found herself rather impressed with the comfortable interior of the car, even if the engine under the hood was a disappointing hunk of scrap metal. Overall the grey sedan was a vehicle that Dante would have used only in extreme cases and then only for a demolition derby.

"Sorry about the ride," Mike apologized with a soft smile. "But you know how it goes."

Lady nodded sympathetically, "It's alright. My first bike wasn't anything special either. It's really only cause Dante keeps destroying my bikes that I keep getting newer and better ones."

The detective laughed heartily at that. "Guess it's a good thing for this city then that we got you! I don't think this city is ready for the destructive rampages of demons and the famous devil hunter Dante Sparda!"

Lady couldn't help but chuckle at Mike's infectious laugh; she decided not to tell him about Vergil's destructive rampages, which, unlike Dante's, left human casualties. Instead she strategically changed the subject. "So why did you think it was a supernatural force in the first place?"

Mike grew solemn, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter. "Well... after three sets of crime scenes all almost exactly alike, and all in the same room, I knew it couldn't be just a coincidence. Especially when there was nothing on any of the casino's security cameras, and with all that blood... No human could do that!"

Lady nodded empathically.

"So I talked to Leo about it. He told me just to call you guys out, but Mr. Palmer wanted someone more local that would be cheaper, instead of spending all that money in getting you out right away." Mike was quiet for a long time, and then when he spoke again he did so softly and with such regret that Lady felt compelled to put her hand on his arm. "Those kids didn't need to die."

"It's not your fault," Lady told him softly. She knew the blame game all too well, having played it herself to many times.

"Sure don't feel like it," Mike muttered as he pulled the car into park in front of a well-lit building. Visibly brushing the previous dark mood off, Mike pulled a hand through his lush golden locks and smiled ruefully, "Well, here we are!"

The Las Vegas police department's morgue was a far more unassuming building than the huge concrete one in New York. Built with a large glass wall as the forefront of the building that was not only brightly lit but additionally looked out onto a well manicured lawn; it looked more like an exquisite office building than a place for the dead.

Entering the building, Lady followed Mike as he first nodded to a security guard in greeting, before passing the man and walking into a long hallway that lead away from the spacious buildings front. Continuing to follow Mike, Lady pushed her way through a set of swinging doors into a large cool room that had a bluish tinge to the lighting. Three stainless steel tables stood evenly spaced within the centre of the room, with large matching steel drawers lining the walls.

On one of the three tables lay a blonde haired woman that currently had her internal organs on display as a white haired old man worked through them. Lifting his head to look at them suspiciously with dark eyes, Lady noticed a few days growth of hair around the man's face.

"Good evening, Dr. Phizer," Mike intoned cheerfully, as he moved gracefully toward the elderly coroner.

"It's night, Mike. Not evening," the coroner responded sourly, straightening himself from his work.

"Well, you know it just sounds a little wrong when I say 'Good night'." Mike's friendly tone didn't change despite the old doctor's seemingly moody demeanour.

The old man sighed and pulled the latex gloves from his hands to toss them into a waste basket beneath the table. "I suppose then that this isn't a social call?" the coroner asked, his gaze now suspiciously watching Lady, whom hadn't moved far from the doors.

"Sorry, no," Mike responded almost regretfully, and then turning slightly in Lady's direction, gestured toward her, "This is Lady; she's helping me with a case."

The old man nodded. Unlike so many others that often questioned her absence of a formal name, the doctor simply accepted it and moved over to a sink standing close to the door. As he moved in limping strides, Lady wasn't quite sure what to think of the gentleman. Surely he was old enough to retire, and with that limp...?

The old coroner washed his hand and arms clean of any blood, taking his time before he turned to address either Lady or Mike again. "So what brings you here then?"

"Those two kids from the other day..." Mike stated sadly.

"Uhm," Dr. Phizer nodded, and limped over to the large steel drawers against the wall. Pulling one open, the doctor revealed the body of one of the young men Lady had seen in the video back at the hotel. "Why do you need to see them? Did you already lose my report?" the elder doctor asked with a hint of amusement as he turned back toward Mike.

The golden haired detective shrugged as Lady approached from behind both men, eager to see the wounds on the body for herself.

Sliding in beside the coroner, Lady caused the doctor to jump with her silent approach, but she paid him little heed as she observed a set of slashes along the boy's cheek and jaw. Even though they had been carefully stitched, Lady could see that the wounds had cut straight through the jaw bone. Turning her attention to the rest of the body she found it irritably covered by a white sheet. A quick tug was all that was needed to fully reveal the extent of the damage that the boy had taken to his body.

"Guess you're not new to seeing dead bodies," the old doctor stated, before moving away from Lady's side; he limped around the currently open drawer, and he pulled another open. "That unlucky kid that you are looking at Miss... bled out. This one here died of a heart attack before he got ripped up."

Lady looked up at the elderly doctor to find him studying her curiously, and nodded in thanks before renewing her investigation. Placing a gloved hand along one wound that the doctor had not been able to successfully suture, she measured both the length and width of the gouge. It almost looked like something a Blade could do, but then again a Blade would have simply sliced the poor kid clean open and left him be Lady mussed silently thinking of the lizard-like demon.

"Did you ever come up with an idea of what might have done something like this, Doc?" Mike asked, though the question was only a distant noise to Lady as she pondered over other demon types capable of the damage she was looking at.

"If I didn't know anything about where they had been found I would have suggested a bear or a large cat, but..." the doctor trailed off in frustration, then, sighing gently, he continued a moment later, "You really did lose that report didn't you?" he sighed gently. "Well, I'll go find you a copy then."

With that the coroner limped out of the morgue, followed closely by Mike as he responded with an "I'll help you."

Lady paid either men little heed, but was grateful when both were gone, leaving her alone to her own thoughts and investigation work. Leaving the bodies momentarily, Lady found a rolling steel table to place her bag onto and then set about removing the laptop. After a few clicks on the keyboard, she had the webcam operating and used the device to take her own photographs of the grisly gashes and apparent bite marks covering the bodies of both boys. Then after finding a ruler among the tools where Dr. Phizer had initially been working, she carefully measured each wound.

By the time both men had returned, Lady was done with her own documentation of the victims, and, holding a gloved fist to her chin while her other hand cradled her elbow, she was completely baffled by what kind of demon she was exactly dealing with. All in all it seemed more like the work of an animal rather than a demon; particularly when she glanced once more to the obvious gnaw marks on the one boy's arm. The boy had died before the marks were inflicted, something most demons didn't do. It truly was baffling.

"So were you able to think of something that I hadn't, young lady?" Dr. Phizer asked irritably as he returned to the cold room.

Lady smiled charmingly, and turned toward the old doctor, "I'm sure I haven't." Then she added respectfully, "I apologize for trespassing on your work."

The old doctor sighed, and returned her smile, "No need to apologize. I do realize the need for fresh eyes."

Lady's smile brightened and she turned, covering both boys once more and pushed both drawers back into the wall.

"So do you have what you need?" Mike asked, as he passed a file folder to her.

Nodding, Lady retrieved her things and thanked the doctor once more.

"I called the boys' mother... I figured you might want to see the rest of their stuff." Mike stated as they proceeded to leave the building.

"Don't you think it's little late?" Lady asked, glancing at a clock on the wall as they re-entered the front of the morgue told her it was nearing three o'clock in the morning.

"She hasn't been sleeping; can't say I blame her," Mike answered, regret once more filling his voice, as he held open the door for Lady.

Lady nodded. More information certainly wouldn't hurt.

Another half hour later and Mike had taken them to a small, well maintained house with welcoming light beaming out from within that reminded Lady of a quaint country home.

Ringing the doorbell produced a woman that appeared to be in terrible condition. Her face was lined and haggard by age and pain, her eyes red and puffy from days of sleeplessness and grief, and her auburn and silver streaked hair looked as if it hadn't been brushed in days. Despite her condition though, she made an attempt at a smile and welcomed Mike before stepping aside to allow the both of them into her home.

Dressed in flannel pyjamas and a fluffy red robe, which she pulled tighter about her slender form as the cool night air entered her home with Mike and Lady, the woman spoke softly, "I made some coffee. I know I should have asked first if you were staying... I mean I know you're busy..."

Mike put a hand out on the woman's arm and smiled kindly, "I would love some coffee, Estelle, and I do have time."

Wondering mildly if Mike was like this with any victim's family, Lady was glad for the woman's sake that someone cared enough just to sit and have coffee with her.

"By the way," Mike continued, gesturing to Lady much as he had done at the morgue, "this is Lady; she is a specialist of sorts and is working on the boys' case. Would you mind if she takes a look at their things?"

The woman turned to look at Lady, her face dropping in sadness. "No, I don't mind," she stated hollowly, and then as her face lifted in a look of desperation, she asked, "Do you know what happened to my David and Zack?"

Trying to give her best comforting smile, Lady answered "I'm doing everything I can to find out, and I'm very sorry for your loss."

The woman's face fell, and Lady watched sadly as tears welled once more in her eyes, before she quickly turned away.

Taking her arm, Mike began to lead her away, pausing only to inform Lady that the boys' rooms were downstairs.

Lady sighed softly. She very rarely dealt with a victim's family and even then she often said little for generally it had been the family that had contracted her in the first place. Shaking her head to get her mind back on her investigation, Lady walked in the opposite direction from Mike and was rewarded a few moments later by a set of stairs leading down into the darkness of a basement. Flipping a switch at the top of the stairs, Lady descended into the basement and found much of what she was expecting.

Like the main floor, the basement was kept comfortably clean, but unlike the main floor, the basement had been turned into a virtual gaming paradise, further confirming Danny's first assessment of the amateur hunters.

Lady was just about to give up on the victims' living space and return to the main floor to retrieve a cup of coffee, when a package caught her attention. The package at first seemed unassuming, but the return address on the top left corner said an entirely different thing. The return address belonged to an occult bookstore that the hunters of Devil May Cry had ordered from many times before.

Opening the package quickly, Lady found a large, leather bound book with gold lettering engraved into it; 'Magical Symbols of the Wiccan Art and Other Religions' it read.

Opening the book, Lady sat down in a chair nearest the desk and began paging through the book. It seemed these amateur hunters were at least thinking down the right track, it was just too bad that they hadn't been patient enough to wait for the information. Or perhaps it had been Palmer that was pushing them to recklessness, Lady mused thoughtfully.

Nearly an hour later, and about three-quarters of the way through the book, Lady found a very similar symbol to the one that was printed on the vase back at the hotel. Reading through the description, she learned that the symbol was often used as part of an elaborate set of symbols for containing monsters, demons, and other supernatural creatures.

Wonderful, Lady thought, the vase was a containment vessel of some kind. And as those vessels generally worked, if they were broken the creature being contained within would be released. Lady shook her head; she certainly hoped Vergil refrained from destroying anything.

Reading further she found that the symbol was light based, which was why it was useful in containing powerful creatures.

Super, was Lady's next sarcastic thought. She checked back with her notebook, which she had pulled out as a reference to the symbols on the vase. The symbols were so similar and yet she could not deny their differences and in magic the slightest difference could mean everything.

Sighing in frustration, Lady rubbed the scar that stretched across the bridge of her nose, she knew there was an answer to the puzzle of the vase and its runes – she just needed to think it over carefully.

The Wiccans, for the most part, had derived much of their magical symbols from the oldest of languages, from the language of heaven to the demonic tongue. Thus it was entirely possible that the glyph still meant the same thing, or so she hoped. Twisting her lips, Lady finally decided that there was little more to do with the one symbol and continued flipping through the book, perhaps if she found the other symbols then she could possibly piece the mystery together.

Unfortunately after yet another half-hour spent combing through the last part of the book, she had found only two other symbols that somewhat matched the other glyphs on the vase and the only thing she was currently positive of was that the vase was a containment vessel.

Sighing tiredly, Lady closed the book and then added it too the rest of her things before making her way back upstairs.

After a short search of the house, Lady found Mike and the woman in a bedroom. It looked as if the woman had finally fallen asleep. Mike gently pulled the bed covers up over the woman's form much as a father might have for a small child.

Looking up as Lady's silhouette filled the door way, the golden haired detective smiled softly. "I just managed to get her to sleep," he spoke in a near whisper. "Poor Estelle, losing both her boys like that." His gaze returned to the sleeping woman and he tenderly brushed her hair away from her face.

"They were brothers then?" Lady asked quietly, the obviousness of her question giving away her fatigue. She was only glad that the question was not aimed at Vergil who would have instantly rebuked her for it.

Mike only nodded in confirmation and then walking toward Lady, took her by the arm and lead her back through the house. "So did you find anything worthwhile?" Mike asked softly, even though they were far enough away from Estelle's bedroom that they no longer needed to worry about waking her.

Comforted by Mike's kindness, Lady had never felt as safe as she currently felt within Mike's presence, and did not hesitate to nod in response to his question. "I found a book that the boys must have ordered before they died." A sudden need to further explain her findings overcame Lady, and she felt no compunction to argue with the feeling. "I was going to ask if I could take it, but I suppose I should just leave it now." She continued and was just about to reach into her bag to retrieve the book when Mike stopped her.

"No. Keep it," said Mike. "I don't think Estelle will mind. Besides it's of more use to you now than her." Mike smiled with that kind, fatherly smile again and opened the front door for Lady. "Come on, you must be exhausted by now."

Lady didn't answer as she stepped out into the predawn chill of the desert. The darkness of night was only just beginning to be chased away by the approaching sun, and Lady frowned in thought at it. She was forgetting something important. As Mike passed her to go to the car, Lady just decided that it wasn't that important and getting back to the hotel and getting some sleep was.

"You coming?" Mike asked patiently as he stuck his head back out of the window of the car.

Lady nodded and slipped into the passenger seat, no longer caring about forgotten information.

Author's Notes: Thanks so much for the continued following on this story. As well special thanks is given to deathofaraven for an awesome beta job.


	6. The Folly of the Uninformed

Disclaimer: I do not own the boys, Lady, or DMC.

Chapter 6: The Folly of the Uninformed

Vergil hadn't moved since taking his seat in the leather armchair after his wordly war with Lady. In fact, the only major movement he had made at all was to catch the candlestick that Lady had flung at him before it collided with his head. Once Lady was gone, his thoughts had only been briefly disturbed twice. Once by the hotel's concierge, whom had practically raked him with her lust filled stare. She had then attempted to ask a few polite questions as to his welfare, which he had answered pointedly without bothering once to look at the woman. Then, again by the hotel's cleaning staff, who left as quickly as they had arrived.

For a change though, despite his lack of reaction to said interruptions, he hadn't minded them for they successfully strayed his thoughts away from his current frustrating mental fascination over a certain devil huntress. Of course though, the more his thoughts refused to find a new topic to mull over, the more frustrated he became.

Lady, his mind pondered over her name. She was a complete enigma to him. Every time he felt confident that he had figured out every facet of her personality, she would do something completely out of character – like she had done prior that day – and surprise him yet again.

He had finally come to the conclusion that this was what ultimately drew him to her… like a drug addict looking for another fix, Vergil found himself prodding and goading Lady on, waiting for that next unexpected shift in her tactics. It was complete chaos and try as he might; he couldn't understand why he enjoyed it so much. And she, well… Lady probably wasn't even aware of what she did to him. Even though he sought to deny it, there were days like today where he was made fully aware of how addictive she really was.

That chaos was like an inferno of fire that warmed his chilled blood and before he even realized it, or at times when he thought he could even fight back against it, her chaotic presence would set him a boil.

There was an explanation of course, but that particular explanation was completely ludicrous. Therefore, he continued to search for another reason; only becoming more irritated as other more credible answers eluded him.

As evening deepened into night, Vergil was so involved with these thoughts that he didn't even notice the ghost stir from her painting until she stood right in front of him. The spirit looked exactly like she did in the painting from whence she came. Knowing he could do nothing to her and she could do nothing to him, Vergil lifted his eyes to view her with a mixture of disdain and boredom. The souls of dead humans whom refused to depart this world, he decided, were even more pathetic than their lively counterparts. At least the living had no choice but to remain attached to this world and its mortal pursuits.

"Demon!" The spectre hissed after many long moments, before promptly disappearing.

Without any clear reason to move, Vergil remained motionless in the chair. However he did remain highly alert to his surroundings should the ghost decide to fling something at him.

She apparently decided not to, and, after nearly two hours of silence in which Vergil's sharp hearing only caught the laughter and voices of living humans walking through the hall beyond the door of his current room, he was bored once again. Sighing, he decided that the ghost was either so pathetic that it was afraid of him or had retained enough intelligence to realize that there was nothing she could throw at him that he wouldn't dodge or deflect. With nothing else to occupy him, his thoughts returned unbidden to Lady. Vergil wondered slightly why she hadn't returned yet, and, answering his question in the same thought, informed himself that she was undoubtedly investigating each and every lead available. Despite his ridicule on the matter, Lady was far more persistent and thorough than any of the other hunters that they worked with when it came to research. If she went in guns blazing... well that could be simply accounted to good survival instinct and not for a lack of research.

It was something, he was loathe to admit, that he admired most about her... her ability to overcome her human frailties and keep up with the best of them, all the while leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.

Vergil's blue gaze went to their luggage, which still sat on the same cart that they had found it on. It had only been mildly disturbed when he had retrieved Yamato and Lady had checked on the welfare of her own weapons. His sapphire eyes narrowed involuntarily as he thought about the clunky, despicable weapons that she used. He had never put much stock into those types of weapons, even though Lady and Dante consistently proved their worth. Come to think of it, guns did suit the raven-haired huntress far better than any sword ever could. Not to mention, Vergil continued to muse, unaware of where his thoughts were currently leading him; they did give her that unique scent... gunpowder and peaches. It was such an odd combination of scents and yet they were as uniquely beautiful as her eyes.

Sighing in complete exasperation – where the hell had those thoughts come from? - Vergil wrapped his fingers around Yamato's hilt and rose. He was in dire need of a distraction... something, anything to take his traitorous thoughts away from the human huntress.

Why? Why out of all the women that he was surrounded by did it need to be her?

Pacing in his irritation, he reflected over that carefully. Trish was simply too much like his mother to ever think of her in that regard, despite Dante's disagreement. Lucia, now she was beautiful and intelligent, enjoyed reading through old books almost as much as he did, and fought with daggers – which were far more respectable then guns. He even had the ability to work with her without breaking into an argument or fight. Lastly, but certainly not least, she had demonic blood flowing through her veins.

Unfortunately, even as he formed a mental image of the red haired, blade-welding huntress, the image shifted until black short hair replaced the red, green eyes were exchanged for dual toned, a scar that no demon or half demon could retain stretched across the bridge of the nose, and Lucia's face was completely supplanted by Lady's.

Growling in utter annoyance at himself, Vergil spun on his booted heel and decided that some fresh air was in order. Flinging the glass patio door aside, Vergil stepped out into the chill night air of Las Vegas. A soft breeze blew past him, ruffling the bottom of his coat, instantly refreshing him and bringing him back to full alertness as easily as a splash of cold water.

Sighing in contentment to finally have his thoughts clear of gun-toting, human huntresses, Vergil leaned against the rail. Placing Yamato atop it and under his crossed arms, he looked out over the artificially bright city. Vergil didn't even need to stretch his senses to feel the demonic activity occurring all over the city beneath and around him. The demons weren't even of the lowest classes. Instead, they were readily powerful; ones that would be searching for weak-minded humans willing to trade away their souls for a moment of wealth or love. Undoubtedly the demons found these types of humans by the handfuls, Vergil speculated silently.

Leaning his head down onto his arms, Vergil continued to muse over the patheticness of human kind. Humans truly had no concept of the importance of their souls. Vergil knew, along with every other demon and angel, it was the very thing that gave the humans their freedom of choice. Seeing as demons and angels only possessed bound souls, that freedom was what they coveted most. His soul was the only human quality about himself that he would fight bitterly to keep, and it was the only thing that had kept him from being a complete slave to Mundus. Something, that regardless of his thirst for the demonic powers of his father, he refused to become. As for the rest of his humanity... well... that was a different matter altogether.

Rolling his head to the side in boredom, Vergil listened to the bustling city below, his fingers idly caressing the engraved phoenix on Yamato's sheath. It seemed fitting he supposed, for the mythical creature to have replaced the dragons on his old sheath, for both himself and the sword. The phoenix immediately brought to mind Lady once more, as she was the cause for it. Returning to his previous train of thought, he mused that Lady was one of the few humans whom actually knew the importance of souls and free will; it was part of why she fought as hard as she did.

Vergil instantly lifted his head in annoyance at the stray thoughts and images they produced, and once more attempted to beat them back into a far corner of his mind. After a few moments he relaxed once more, satisfied for the time being that his treacherous mind was brought back under control.

Vergil hated the lack of control he had over his mind as of late; stray thoughts plagued him at every hour of the day and night. He had long prided himself on having perfect control over his mind and body, it was the equivalent of a finely honed machine... or so he had thought. Lady, without having actually done anything, had successfully upset his perfectly working machine so that now his silly brain would go charging off at the mere mention, or, in this case, thought of her name.

Growling unhappily, Vergil straightened himself and looked up at the sky, past the glow of the city's lights. He noted that dawn would be arriving in short order as it began to considerably lighten.

Putting Lady and all the rest of his bothersome thoughts to rest, Vergil smirked and headed back into the hotel room. It was nearly 'Showtime'. Stopping near the railing where he had challenged Lady the day before, Vergil's frosty gaze swept around the room in anticipation. Nothing as of yet, had moved, but he could feel the spectre's watchful gaze. "Well, my dear, dawn is fast approaching. If you intend to do something, this would be your last chance," he goaded icily, his thumb idly caressing Yamato's hilt as he waited.

An audible hiss resounded throughout the room, but nothing else occurred, and Vergil was forced to wait impatiently for the sun.

When the morning sun did rise, its rays burst into the room, surrounding Vergil in a halo of light. With the entrance of the sunlight, Vergil watched as the vase that Lady had left sitting on the old dining table rose into the air until the sun's light shone directly on the object.

"Die, demon!" The spirit snarled as she became visible, hovering alongside the vase.

Vergil said nothing in retaliation; the symbols on the vase itself caught the sun's light and immediately burst into their own golden light, becoming miniature suns themselves. Shielding his eyes against it, Vergil heard his opponent before he was able to see it as a deep throated growl meet his ears.

The extreme light dissipated and Vergil was able to take his first look at the creature that had been the cause for the recent deaths within the room. It was unlike any demon that Vergil had ever seen before. Instead, it appeared more animalistic, having much the same features as that of a dog, specifically a Rottweiler or bull dog. Unlike a dog, the beast was hairless with skin that seemed to be like a string of rocks held together to form rough scales with broom-like bristles jutting up between them. It snarled revealing rows of yellow teeth within a gapping maw that was overly large and covered in drool. It stomped its large clawed feet in agitation. Those were another oddity when compared to a dog; instead they looked as if they had belonged to a bear.

Flicking his thumb up on the guard of Yamato, Vergil released the sword from the sheath, eager for this new challenge.

The creature gave no further warning as it leapt from its position on the floor near the table toward Vergil. Clearing the railing and the considerable distance in that one leap, Vergil dodged the creature at the last second, flinging Yamato out in an arc that few would have seen let alone guard against.

The creature however had no apparent need to defend itself as Yamato ground across the creature's boulder like hide without leaving so much as a scratch.

Vergil's eyes grew wide in absolute shock; nothing had ever turned Yamato's blade before!

With an angry growl, the odd-looking hound turned and leapt once more for Vergil.

Using his demonic powers now, Vergil disappeared, reappearing where the animal had first appeared. Focusing his energy into Yamato, Vergil stepped back and held his sword back, but the creature was no longer where he had left it. Narrowing his eyes uncertainly, Vergil disregarded the spirit's laughter and swung around as a growl emitted from beside him, unleashing Yamato in a blur of power before the creature could move. Once again though, the creature stood unharmed after the storm of Yamato's slashes had passed it by, not even severing a bristle.

Frustrated, Vergil held Yamato in front of him defensively; nothing and no one had ever before been able to stand before his attacks and remain completely unharmed. Even the King of the Underworld had taken some damage... but this... this was just unheard of!

The beast attacked again and Vergil sidestepped it, using Yamato as a shield as the animal's claws slashed out at him. Deciding that a change in tactics was in order, Vergil looked about quickly for the vase. Perhaps if he had control over the hound's container then like a genie it would return to it when commanded... or so he hoped.

Vergil found the object hanging suspended in the air near the bed. Teleporting there quickly, Vergil reappeared where the vase should have been; instead he found the creature already leaping up at him from the bed.

It seemed as if the beast was somehow able to anticipate his moves, and that the ghost was also privy to the same information, perhaps through the beast that it was controlling. In either case, it quickly became obvious to Vergil that he was losing this battle. He made a final attempt to capture the vase, and found that a full retreat was in order as the infernal creature snatched the end of his coat in its jaws and began shaking its head, tearing through the material.

Growling in frustration, Vergil divested himself of his coat before the creature could inflict actual bodily harm, and immediately dodged as the animal realized its prey was getting away and leapt. Continuing to dodge, deflect and teleport as necessary, Vergil finally made it to the room's exit, and yanked the door open. In order to protect his pride, Vergil paused and snarled out, "This isn't over!" Then he slipped through the open door and slammed it behind himself, just as the creature flung itself against the door.


	7. Hero of the Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Lady or the boys.

Author's note: Well, after a long school year... I'm back. Too bad that I'm soo busy I haven't had much time to write. ~sigh~ life. Anyway, enjoy this new chapter it might be awhile before the next. Sorry in advance.

Chapter 7: Hero of the Day

Lady put a hand to her mouth, effectively covering a yawn as the elevator opened to let her off on her floor. She was absolutely exhausted, and after Mike had dropped her off back at the Alegra, she had made her way through the nearly empty casino floor, glad that she wouldn't have to deal with any drunken, recently poor or rich guests. Then making it to the elevator she had nearly nodded off, waking when it had 'binged' to inform her of her arrival on the correct floor. Now all she wanted was a bed, and she didn't care if Vergil was an ass about her getting the bed. She deserved it after all the work she had done throughout the night, unlike him, who she was quite sure hadn't moved from the arm chair all night. Lazy bum!

She yawned again, this time not bothering to cover it as a door a bit down the hallway burst open. It took her a few minutes to realize whom the man that stood within the doorway – his head still within the room- actually was, but as spiked white hair made an appearance and a contemptuous snarl was issued before the door was slammed shut, Lady knew all too well who the well-dressed man was.

Brushing her exhaustion to the side as her warrior instincts kicked in, Lady cleared the rest of the hallway in a few seconds to reach Vergil as he was backing away from the closed door, his hand grasping Yamato's hilt defensively.

"What happened?" Lady asked in concern and noticing that he was no longer wearing his coat assumed that it couldn't have been good. Unfortunately now she was also remembering the significance of dawn and that there would be some nasty creature patrolling their hotel room, putting the ancient vase in danger and if it broke... needless to say things could go from bad to hell on earth bad.

"Where is the vase?" Lady continued to question, as of yet not having received any answers from Vergil and seeing her mission clear before her, pulled the knife from her boot.

With an irritated gesture toward the door, Vergil answered grouchily, "In there."

"No kidding." Lady answered just as moodily. She was tired and not going to put up with his cryptic statements and asshole attitude. Sighing, she turned from Vergil and moved toward the door, only to have her arm caught by the jerk of a half-devil.

"Wait!" Vergil responded in that condescending tone of his. "You can't go in there!"

"Well, since 'you' left that vase in there and the possibility of it getting broken are very high, and I don't want to deal with the extra problems associated with that occurrence..." Lady stated angrily and slipped out of his grip, dashing for the door before he could stop her. "That's exactly what I'm going to have to do." She snapped and let herself quickly into the room, Vergil crying out behind her to stop.

On first appearance, nothing seemed disturbed at all, on second glance though Lady noticed the vase sitting in the sunlight on the railing that dividing the two halves of the suite, the symbols on it giving off their own golden glow. Frowning, she moved slowly. Her hand griped the knife lightly so that the blade was toward the floor in a typical fighting fashion.

Pausing beside the luggage cart, Lady pondered for half a moment if she should exchange the knife for a gun, but then decided against it; the last thing she wanted was to be attacked whilst in the midst of an exchange. She did put down her bag though, as it would only slow her down in a fight.

Proceeding forward, Lady watched carefully around herself for any movement and when she finally reached the railing without having seen or heard anything, she felt fairly confident that the creature was gone. She was sadly mistaken as her free hand wrapped around the vase and she came face to face with a ghost.

The spirit of the woman was obviously at the ends of her energy as her form wavered in and out of reality. Not waiting to see if the ghost was going to do something, Lady lashed out with her knife, the iron in it disrupting the spirit's already waning energy, causing it to disappear with a scream that sounded miles away. By the time the spirit would be able to pull itself together, it would be forced to return to its painting and recharge.

With a victorious smile, Lady turned and would have calmly walked out of the room to show Vergil her prize when a deep throated growl stopped her in her tracks.

Turning around slowly back toward the bed, Lady's eyes went wide as a dog-like beast came around the side of the bed from where it had been lying in the sun. It was massive, and seemingly made of stone. When it's pointed ears flattened back against its head, Lady bolted toward the luggage before it decided to attack – she needed a gun and fast!

The beast leapt after her and hearing its heavy body creak the floor boards as it landed behind her, Lady twirled, flinging her knife at it without so much as a pause.

The knife clattered off the animal's hide causing Lady to swear. Without having seen it, she knew that the small weapon hadn't done any damage, and furthermore, she was now out of a weapon.

With the creature only steps behind her, Lady knew she was out of time, and did the only thing that she could think of that yielded some chance of survival. She dove beneath the table, as the creature crashed into the luggage, spilling it across the floor.

Lady sat quietly in the darkness of the table's shadow, waiting to see the creature's legs or hear the click of its massive claws on the hardwood floor, but there was nothing. Lady frowned in confusion, her bi-coloured eyes narrowing. Where had it gone? She looked down at the vase in her hands; the symbols that had been glowing golden in the sun were now dark. Was that how it worked? Lady wondered mildly, turning the vase this way and that to fully examine it. Were the symbols not only light based... but activated by the sun's light? Lady recalled how the object had been sitting in the sun when she had entered into the room. It was a very plausible explanation for the sudden disappearance of her enemy.

Before she could test her theory or think about it more, an arm reached beneath the table and pulled her back out into the morning sunlight, subsequently exposing the vase once more causing the symbols to burst into golden light.

"Vergil, wait!" Lady snarled, trying to detach herself from him and return to the darkness beneath the table, her eyes blinded by the burst of light from the vase.

"Foolish woman, you are going to get yourself killed!" Vergil snapped back, attempting to pull her along with him.

Putting her brakes on, her booted heels scuffing the floor as she did so; Lady returned venomously, "You don't understand!"

"Ungrateful..." Vergil was interrupted by the beast's growl as it reappeared just feet from them.

"Move!" Vergil commanded unnecessarily as Lady was already running, still trying to dislodge Vergil's hand from her arm so that she could dive once more under the table.

The beast jumped after them, and Vergil twisted them around the side of the table causing the creature to miss them and slam head first into the wall beside the dresser, knocking the painting from its mounted position on the wall.

At this point, Lady stopped fighting Vergil as she realized that he was steering them toward the exit. Remembering that there were no windows within the hallway, she decided that it was just as good as beneath the table.

Seeing the beast shake its head and charge after them, Lady desperately tried to cover the vase with her hands and body, to no avail. Reaching the door, Vergil yanked it open and shoved her through. There was a sound of tearing fabric followed by a grunt of pain from Vergil, just as Lady and the vase with her emerged into the artificially lit hallway. Lady turned to briefly look at Vergil as he stumbled into the hallway behind her, slamming the door to the room behind him for safety sake.

Turning away once more, Lady noticed a housekeeper's cart just down the hallway. She quickly sprinted to it and pulling one of the many towels from the cart, carefully wrapped the vase in it. This way she hoped to protect it, and thereby them, from any unwanted sunlight should a door open.

"Stupid woman," Vergil growled from where he still stood leaning against the closed door.

"Stupid man!" Lady retorted, examining the now wrapped vase to ensure that there wasn't any part of the clay still showing. Satisfied, Lady decided she would dump the now wrapped vase in a drawer, then throw that painting in a closet and surround it in salt, and then she would finally get some well deserved sleep.

Turning back toward their room, Lady frowned when she saw Vergil still leaning against the door, Yamato held limply in one hand, but what disturbed her more than the fact that he was not glaring at her was that a trail of blood was flowing down the door behind him. "Vergil?" Lady questioned, moving toward him quickly. Sure, she had seen the sons of Sparda bleed plenty of times before, but they healed so fast that they only ever left splatters. Not trails of running blood!

Vergil lifted his head, his icy eyes glaring at her as if the whole thing was her fault.

Disregarding his look, Lady asked worriedly, "Why aren't you healing?"

"If I knew..." Vergil's voice trailed off painfully, and Lady moved quickly to catch him as his body sank to the floor.

Pulling him away from the blood stained door, Lady looked over Vergil's shoulder at the grisly wounds crossing his back. The creature's claws had shredded the silk material of Vergil's shirt and ripped into the flesh deep enough that Lady caught the glistening white of a rib.

"Damn." Lady muttered under her breath, she needed to stop the bleeding and fast. "Come on," she ordered, putting one of Vergil's arms around her shoulder and lying her arm across his lower back for support – careful though not to aggravate the already serious wounds. Lady helped Vergil to his feet, practically having to lift him up, but there was no way she could fix him in the hallway.

"You realize this is your entire fault," Vergil spat out between grit teeth as Lady opened the door to return to the room.

"My fault!" Lady exclaimed angrily, nearly letting go of Vergil. "If you hadn't been so frigen macho and left me alone, none of this would have happened!"

"Oh, yes, and you were doing so well on your own; sitting beneath the table." The biting sarcasm that should have been present in Vergil's voice was absent, causing his response to fall flat and leaving Lady more than a little alarmed.

"I actually was," Lady answered, keeping her worry from her voice as she half carried Vergil through the suite toward the bed. "I found that the vase works via sunlight. No light... no nasty critter."

"Hrmm," Vergil's murmur was barely a sound, and he was leaning harder on Lady as each minute ticked by. God, how she wished Trish were here. The demonic woman always seemed to know what to do with serious injuries and unexplained ailments.

Reaching the bed, Lady was nearly giddy with relief. Vergil was now practically dead weight in her arms and the arm that was holding him steady around his waist was soaked in blood. Helping him to sit on the bed, Lady put a hand to his forehead in a motion her mother had often done for her as a child. Lady pursed her lips grimly as she felt the warmth radiating from Vergil's forehead. He was burning up.

"I need to get that vase before housekeeping throws it in with the rest of the laundry," Lady stated. In her concern for Vergil she had left it sitting next to the door. There were just too many things requiring her immediate attention.

Vergil didn't nod; didn't even move as he seemed to be concentrating on breathing. He had even allowed Yamato to fall to the floor.

Worry plagued Lady and she hesitated between tasks, but a shrill scream from the door decided the matter for her. Turning, Lady found a woman standing by the door, her eyes glued to the blood Vergil had helpfully left behind.

Dashing toward the woman and nearly tripping over their luggage, Lady tried ineffectually to calm the woman with her voice and before Lady could reach her, the woman was running down the hallway. Coming to a halt and realizing that the woman was only part of the hotel's cleaning staff, which meant that Danny would be showing up in short order; Lady picked up the wrapped vase and then shut the bloody door behind her. Depositing the vase carefully into a drawer of the dresser standing close to the door, Lady turned once more to find that Vergil had collapsed back onto the bed.

Lady made a sound of indignation in her throat that came out as more of a squawk. She just couldn't catch a break!

Racing back toward Vergil, Lady stopped first by the scattered luggage and rummaged through it until she located her first aid kit. Triumphant on at least one front, Lady returned to Vergil. Dumping the kit on the bed beside him, Lady used both her hands to unbutton the black silk shirt covering Vergil's torso. After some struggling she managed to not only remove the ruined article, but also flipped the half-devil onto his stomach. What sent her brain twirling further into worry was that throughout the entire procedure Vergil remained unconscious. She was also quick to notice, as she grabbed a pillow to put pressure on his back and slow the bleeding, that while he was visibly sweating, Vergil was also shivering. Something was very terribly wrong!

Lady knew she needed help, but how was she going to explain the truth of the situation to a doctor or anyone else for that matter. Uh, excuse me, but this isn't normal. Usually he takes hits like this without even flinching. Yeah... that would go over well. She'd probably get locked in a loony bin just for trying to explain that one.

Noticing Vergil's coat lying in a heap on the floor nearby, Lady thought of another option. Sliding around Vergil so that she was still keeping pressure on his back, she used her leg and booted foot to drag the coat to her. Despite the arguments that had followed when Dante had first gotten it, Lady knew that Vergil always kept his cell phone close at hand.

With the coat now close enough, Lady nudged her boot beneath it and with a precise kick that could have rivalled Dante's, the coat lifted into the air to land neatly beside her on the bed. Using one hand, she dug through the pockets until she found the dark blue metallic phone. After that it only took a few seconds to find Trish's number – she didn't really want to call the office as Dante was the last person she currently wanted to talk to.

The number dialled and since Lady couldn't recall the time difference, hoped that Trish would pick up.

"Thank God!" Lady exclaimed in relief as Trish answered with a "What did you do to Lady now Vergil?"

"Huh? No, it's me!" Lady responded quickly and then rattled off her current situation to her fellow huntress; being sure to give specific details about the creature's description.

"Gee... You guys can never do anything the easy way, huh?" Trish sighed in exasperation. "I'll get Lucia to check into what type of demon that was, but it sounds like Vergil was poisoned. So we'll treat it like a snake bite for now."

"What the Hell?" An angry voice sounded out across the room.

Lady looked up from Vergil as the door suddenly burst open. Danny and three other men entered with guns drawn. Although she was somewhat prepared for Danny's arrival, she was not prepared for the guns being pointed in her direction and for a moment thought that the CIA had entered.

"What's going on now?" Trish's voice demanded from over the phone.

"Hang on," Lady answered and was about to yell for Danny and the three men behind him to get out, when Danny beat her to the punch.

Lowering his gun, the security manager looked from the blood stained door, to the trail of blood and finally toward Lady again. "Jesus Christ! I thought you guys were professionals?"

"We had a bit of a hiccup," Lady stated unkindly. She didn't like her professionalism being questioned by anyone. "Now if you would..."

"Wait," Trish interrupted Lady before she could finish her sentence. "Some hotels have spas that make their own creams and lotions," she explained.

"A hiccup!" Danny was ranting now as he gestured to the blood on the floor. "I don't know if I should be calling a doctor, Mike or the god damn morgue!"

"NONE!" Lady snarled at Danny. "Take a friggen chill pill and be quiet for a minute!" Then ignoring Danny and focusing completely on Trish's voice, responded with an "Ok" to let Trish know she could now continue.

"Find out if they have Plantain. You'll need fresh leaves to make a poultice to draw the poison out of the wounds." Trish explained, speaking slowly so that Lady heard everything correctly. "Also, you'll want to make a very strong tea made of Echinacea – which will help with the fever – and garlic or ginger. Either one is fine, since they both will help his heart and blood circulation. Unfortunately with him being out cold, you'll have to figure out how to get him to swallow the tea."

"Alright, I got it," Lady informed Trish and then looking back to Danny, whom was speaking with his men, she quickly caught his attention with an ordered "Hey!"

Danny turned back to look at her with a slightly bewildered, slightly angry expression. "What now?"

"Does the hotel make its own lotions and stuff?" Lady asked, having no problem in competing in the glaring contest with Danny. He certainly was no Vergil.

"All the best hotels do." Danny returned, gesturing to his men to complete the tasks he had already apparently given them.

"Do you know if you carry or grow Plantain?"

"Beats me, but I can find out." Danny shrugged, moving toward Lady in an attempt to see the cause for all the blood. "You sure you don't want me to call a doctor?"

"No. I'm also going to need an Echinacea and garlic or ginger tea. The basic herbs will be fine though if you don't have a tea." Lady responded to Danny, and then checked with Trish if there was any additional supplies she was going to need.

"Some hard core alcohol, like Tequila, to clean the wounds," Trish answered.

"Shit..." Lady swore. That was going to burn like hell!

"What?" Danny asked in alarm. He was now standing beside the bed looking down at Lady as she practically kneeled on Vergil's back. "What's wrong now?"

"I need a bottle of Tequila too," Lady answered grimly. And about half a dozen strong guys to hold him down once that Tequila was poured onto his back.

"Alright," Danny muttered. He had calmed considerably and pulling his cell phone out of his suit coat's pocket, set to ordering the necessary herbs and alcohol.

"So how do I go about stitching these wounds back together?" Lady asked a bit desperately. She had plenty of training when it came to stitching herself up, but these wounds seemed a bit out of her league.

"You know how to stitch," Trish stated in a placid tone.

"That's not what I mean," Lady deadpanned. "What about the nerves and blood vessels?"

"Can you see the spine at all?" Trish asked gently.

"No, just a bit of a rib," Lady responded.

"As long as nothing is punctured past the rib bone, then you're fine. And you won't need to worry about all that other stuff. You can't stitch back together every severed nerve and blood vessel. His demonic healing will look after all that stuff, once whatever is keeping him from healing now gets out of his system. All you need to know is that there are three tissue levels that you will need to individually stitch back together. Make sure you use the self dissolving suture thread for the inside and a tougher non-dissolving one for the outside." Trish explained carefully, giving Lady hope as she went.

"Ok, thanks Trish." Lady breathed in relief. She could do this.

"No problem. Just promise me that when you're done that you call Dante and let him know what's going on."

"Sure," Lady murmured into the phone, her thoughts already fully on the task at hand.

"Well, good luck then," Trish stated and hung up.

During her conversation with Trish, Danny had set about salvaging the clean white pillows from off the bed, and few minutes after Trish had hung up, the herbs arrived along with Charlotte.

"I managed to get a hold of some Plantain. It's a good thing we have a snake exhibition going on right now. As common as it is, most people think it's just a weed." Charlotte strut into the room, her heeled feet nimbly avoiding the blood splatters on the floor.

"Thanks," Lady told the concierge thankfully.

"Geez," Charlotte whistled upon seeing the blood staining the white bed sheets. "You going to need some help?"

Lady nodded, "Danny, I'm going to need you to try and hold him down. Charlotte, if you could just pass me what I need." Lady highly doubted Danny was going to be able to hold Vergil, but he was all she had available at the moment, and she was quickly realizing that she couldn't manage it on her own.

"I don't know," Danny was looking at Vergil's well muscled arms sceptically. "If you're going to do what I think you're going to do... I'm not going to be able to hold him. Maybe if I get some of my guys..." Danny suggested helpfully.

"No," Lady shook her head as she opened her first aid kit and went about setting up the things she was going to need. "The more people holding him down, the worse it will be." She knew that if Vergil did wake, it would be to an extreme amount of pain which would cause him to be on the defensive. If there were a bunch of guys forcefully holding him down... pain or no pain, the consequences would undoubtedly have fatal results.

"Alright, if you say so," Danny stated with a sigh, and steeling himself for what was to come, positioned himself in front of Vergil.

Charlotte too had moved up onto the bed, and knelt beside Vergil, opposite of Lady. Lady passed her the rolls of gauze and the suture kit, so that the concierge could pass them at the appropriate time.

"Ready?" Lady asked as she opened the bottle of Tequila Charlotte had just passed over and then slid over Vergil so that she was seated on his thighs.

Nodding in resignation, Danny took hold of Vergil's arms.

Charlotte scuttled a bit backwards so that she was just out of range of any wild swings or kicks.

With every one ready, Lady took a deep breath and yanked the pillow away before pouring a good portion of the Tequila over Vergil's back.

The scream that erupted from Vergil was not immediate, but it came quickly. And just as Lady had thought, Danny was unable to hold the white-haired half-devil down. The young security manager was even forced to dodge a wild punch that suddenly came at him.

"Vergil! You are not healing! I've got to do this!" Lady shrieked out at Vergil as she attempted to maintain her current position.

"FOUL WOMAN!" The string of curses and language that followed from Vergil's mouth was none too pretty.

"Stop being such a baby, Vergil!" Lady snarled angrily. The amount of times she had to sit still while getting patched up... and he couldn't even behave once!

Vergil paused momentarily and Danny took the opportunity to tackle him, this time succeeding in forcing Vergil to hold still as the half-demon's strength quickly left him. That however did not stop a new string of curses coming from Vergil's usually proper mouth.

Lady didn't care; he could curse as much as he wanted. Now that he had physically settled, Lady set to work on cleaning any foreign material from the wounds and then slowly began stitching them. After a time Vergil lost consciousness again, for which Lady was extremely grateful. The stitching job was long and tedious and after Vergil was no longer conscious, Danny had slowly relaxed his grip until he was able to let go entirely. Then once it no longer seemed as if he was needed, he left, stating that he would supervise the clean up. Lady hadn't even noticed the cleaning staff that had arrived at some time to clean up all of the blood.

However, Charlotte maintained her position throughout the procedure, keeping the roll of suture string close at hand and continually dabbed at any excess blood as Lady worked.

When she was finally through, Lady and Charlotte set about crushing the Plantain leaves between dampened sheets of gauze. Then the poultice, along with more gauze, was applied to Vergil's freshly stitched back. They finished the job up by laying a hot towel over the wound dressings to keep the poultice warm and help the Plantain leaves do their job.

With that done, Lady set about preparing the Echinacea and ginger tea that Charlotte had brought. She wondered mildly how exactly she was going to get the tea into Vergil, as he was practically lying face first on the bed. Lady supposed that it too would be a long and tedious task.

"Thank you," Lady told Charlotte gratefully, feeling like she should say something to break the silence.

The concierge looked up from the box of tea that she had been reading. "No problem," she responded, "I used to volunteer at a veterinary clinic as a teenager. Helping with surgeries was my specialty." Charlotte smiled and then holding up the box of tea changed the subject. "So what exactly is this for?"

Lady dunked four of the tea bags into a cup of hot water before responding. "My associate told me that it will help with his fever and additionally help with his blood circulation."

"Hmm," Charlotte put the box down on the table and continued, "You know there are drugs for that."

"True," Lady murmured, "but the herbs will work better for him." The herbs actually had a better chance of not being neutralized by his demonic blood, and actually doing the job they were intended for. As opposed to artificial medication, which Dante had proved often enough – every time he had a hangover – that they barely worked, if at all.

"Alright," Charlotte tipped her head slightly, giving the win to Lady. "Listen, I've got some things to look after, but I'll be back later today."

Lady nodded mechanically. The cleaning staff had cleaned up most of the blood, leaving only the bed, and had left along with Danny. With the departure of Charlotte, Lady would be alone to care for Vergil, but at least it would give her time to call Dante.

"And you should get some rest as well. You've done all you can for now." Charlotte stated with an encouraging smile. "I'll be back later," Charlotte promised and left Lady to her own thoughts.

Lady sighed and sat down heavily in the closest chair. She was completely exhausted, there was no question about that, but glancing toward Vergil's prone body, Lady also knew she would not be able to sleep for the next long while.


End file.
